DUP deal delayed as Tories seek to avoid £70bn bill

THE Conservatives’ deal with the DUP has been held up because Government negotiators need to find a way of giving cash to Northern Ireland without triggering £70billion of payments to the rest of the UK under devolution rules.

The Barnett formula dictates that every pound of taxpayers’ money spent on certain services in any of the four countries in the UK must be matched by proportionate spending in the others.

The DUP is said to be demanding £2billion for the NHS and infrastructure to support the Tories in Parliament. But because only 3 per cent of the UK lives in Ulster, that would trigger £70 billion of spending in the rest of the UK under Barnett rules.

Government sources have told The Daily Telegraph that a method must be found to give money to Northern Ireland without triggering Barnett rules.

One possibility being considered was to give money directly to Belfast as a so-called city deal, which is outside Barnett rules. A similar method was recently used to give money to Glasgow.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP chief whip at Westminster, confirmed the party was seeking extra funding for Northern Ireland, but said £2 billion was “way wide of the mark”.

He said: “What we are asking for is recognition by the Government that after 30 years of a very violent conflict in Northern Ireland when the capital resources were spent on security – on police stations, fortifications, military establishments – our infrastructure fell well behind the rest of the United Kingdom. So what we are asking for is some help to make up that deficit.”

Two weeks after the election, the Conservatives have still not reached a deal with the DUP, without which Mrs May has no guarantee of being able to get laws through the Commons.