DUP deal ‘will end in bloodshed’
Major warns pact could see new violence shatter NI’s fragile peace
SIR John Major tried to torpedo Theresa May’s bid to form a government yesterday, claiming a pact with the DUP could lead to renewed violence in Northern Ireland.
The Prime Minister held talks with DUP leader Arlene Foster in No10 yesterday in an attempt to secure a deal that will give Mrs May a Commons majority.
Mrs Foster said talks were ‘going well’ and sources suggested a deal would be sealed within the next 48 hours, allowing Mrs May to put a Queen’s Speech to Parliament.
The DUP is revelling in its new-found influence, with Mrs Foster declaring: ‘The future’s bright,’ prompting MP Ian Paisley Jr to quip: ‘The future’s orange’, in a reference to the Protestant Orange Order.
But Sir John, one of the architects of the peace process, urged Mrs May to abandon the pact and pursue a risky minority government.
The former Prime Minister said the deal could lead Northern Ireland’s terrorist ‘hardmen’ to resume their campaigns of violence.
With the DUP reported to be seeking £1billion a year in extra cash for the Province, he warned the deal could spark resentment in other parts of the UK which would cost the Tories ‘votes by the bucketload’ in future.
‘I am concerned about it, I am wary of it, I am dubious about it,’ he told the BBC. ‘My main concern is the peace process.’
Sir John said the Government needed to be seen as an ‘honest broker’ by all sides in Northern Ireland to protect the ‘fragile’ peace process. He added: ‘With the peace process, we need to be prepared for the unexpected, we need to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
‘The last thing anybody wishes to see is one or other of the communities so aggrieved that the hardmen, who are still there lurking in the corners of the communities, decide they wish to return to some form of violence.
‘We really need to do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen, and that does require an impartial UK Government.’
Former Ulster Unionist leader Lord Trimble dismissed Sir John’s comments. Asked if talks put the Good Friday Agreement at risk, he said ‘no’.
He added: ‘There’s a fair amount of scaremongering going on. People are just trying to grab this and argue as a stick to beat the Government with.
‘The Government has acted in good faith. This is just looking for something with which to attack the Government.’
Without a deal with the DUP, Mrs May could lose her Queen’s Speech and be forced out as Prime Minister within days.
But Sir John claimed the DUP would not let this happen because it could usher in a government led by Jeremy Corbyn, whose past sympathy for the IRA it despises.
Speaking on a visit to Paris, Mrs May said the Government remained ‘steadfast in our commitment’ to the peace process.
She added: ‘What we’re doing in relation to the talks we’re holding, the productive talks we’re holding with the Democratic Unionist Party, is ensuring that is possible with their support to give the stability to the UK Government that I think is necessary at this time.
‘The intent is to ensure that we have the stability of government in the national interest.’
Former Tory Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson last night said a deal with the DUP would help ‘normalise’ politics in Northern Ireland by showing politicians from the province could help govern.
Sinn Fein said the ConservativeDUP deal was causing ‘anxiety and fear’ in Northern Ireland and could derail the Good Friday deal.
Michelle Gildernew, MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, said: ‘People are wary of what promises will be given, or promises extracted from Theresa May. There is a lot of anxiety and fear. Any agreement is going to have to come to Stormont to be discussed there.’