DUP side with Labour to back ‘fair pay rise’ for public sector

Despite £1bn confidence-and-supply deal with Conservatives, DUP votes against the Government

THE Democratic Unionist Party has given the Government a clear warning that it will insist on further public sector pay rises after siding with Labour for the first time since the election.

The DUP supported two Labour motions in the Commons that called for a “fair pay rise” for NHS staff and the scrapping of a proposed hike in university tuition fees in what amounted to an embarrassment for Theresa May.

Both motions passed unopposed after the Conservatives conceded defeat by telling their MPS they did not have to turn out to vote against them.

Neither was legally binding, but the DUP used the occasion to remind Mrs May that their support cannot be taken for granted, despite the £1billion confidence-and-supply deal they signed after the election.

The Conservatives, with no overall majority, cannot pass key legislation without the DUP’S 10 votes in the Commons, and the Ulster party left no doubt that it intends to flex its muscles to influence Government policy on public sector pay.

Nigel Dodds, DUP deputy leader, said: “In terms of issues like this, which are not covered by the confidence-and-supply deal, we and the Government are very clear we are different parties. We are not part of the Government – it is not a coalition.”

Asked if the DUP would support public sector pay restraint in the Budget in November, Mr Dodds said: “We will wait and see what the Budget is. The Government know our position on some of these issues. We will work our way through this.”

Ian Paisley Jr, a fellow DUP MP, said the party’s support for the Labour motion on nurses’ pay sent out a “clarion call” to the Government that it needed to put more money into public services.

On Tuesday the Government announced it was scrapping the 1 per cent cap on pay rises for public sector workers, which had been in place since 2010. Pay rises of 2 per cent for police officers and 1.7 per cent for prison officers were approved, but Downing Street said future pay rises for other public

‘We should never have used public money to garner political control… what did we pay that £1 billion for?’

servants would be considered on a case-by-case basis. NHS pay will next be reviewed in early 2018.

Treasury sources said there would be no blanket pay rise across the public sector and future pay hikes would depend on the recommendations made by independent pay review bodies.

The DUP also supported a Labour Opposition Day motion against a £250 increase in the maximum £9,000 tuition fees that universities can charge students.

The two motions were chosen by Labour to cause maximum political damage by highlighting the differences between the Conservatives and the DUP on key policy areas.

Downing Street sources said the Prime Minister was “relaxed” about the DUP’S decision to side with Labour, as the votes were not binding and fell outside the terms of the Conservatives’ deal with the DUP.

Heidi Allen, a Conservative MP who has always been opposed to the Tories’ agreement to give £1 billion to the DUP in return for its votes, said: “We should never have used public money to garner political control. It still begs the question of what did we pay that £1 billion for?”