PM faces backlash after sealing £1bn deal with the DUP
Corbyn asks: Will Yorkshire also get the funding?
THERESA MAY is facing a fierce backlash over a £1bn deal to secure the support of the Democratic Unionist Party, with critics demanding extra cash for regions like Yorkshire to counterbalance the “unfair” boost for Northern Ireland.
Details of an agreement between the parties emerged yesterday morning, including revelations that the Tories had agreed to maintain winter fuel payments and increase infrastructure funding.
Both Mrs May and DUP leader Arlene Foster defended the deal, with the Prime Minister arguing it served the interests “of the whole United Kingdom”. But opponents accused Mrs May of throwing millions of pounds at the Northern Irish party in a “grubby attempt” to prop up her weakened government.
“This Tory-DUP deal is clearly not in the national interest but in May’s party’s interest to help her cling to power,” said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
“The government must immediately answer two questions: Where is the money for the ToryDUP deal coming from, and will all parts of the UK – not just devolved nations but regions like Yorkshire as well – receive the much-needed additional funding that Northern Ireland will get as part of the deal?
“Austerity has failed. Cuts to vital public services must be halted right across the UK, not just in Northern Ireland.”
Downing Street has been in discussions with the DUP about a possible confidence and supply arrangement for over a fortnight. A deal was finally confirmed yesterday, with Ms Foster revealing that her party had been offered an additional £1bn of funding for health, education and infrastructure over the next two years.
Mrs May has also agreed to drop plans to introduce meanstesting for winter fuel allowance and to ditch the pensions triple lock. A manifesto commitment to move to a double lock guarantee in 2020 was expected to save the government billions of pounds.
In exchange for these concessions, the DUP’s 10 MPs will back the government in crucial votes on the Queen’s Speech and the Budget. They will also give their support to the Government’s Brexit legislation and bills relating to national security over the course of this Parliamentary session.
Announcing the deal, Mrs May claimed it would provide “certainty” throughout the Brexit process, while allowing her Government to “build a stronger and fairer society”. But she also stressed her commitment to upholding the conditions of the Good Friday Agreement, and to working with all Northern Irish parties to restore a power-sharing executive at Stormont.
“I welcome this agreement which will enable us to work together in the interest of the whole United Kingdom,” she said yesterday. “The agreement makes clear that we remain steadfast to our commitments as set out in the Belfast Agreement and its successors, and in governing in the interests of all parts of the community in Northern Ireland.”
The leaders of the other devolved nations were among the first to express their outrage at the deal, with the Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones described the payment as a “straight bung to keep a weak Prime Minister and a faltering Government in office”.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon dubbed it “the worst kind of pork-barrel politics”, while accusing the Tories of undermining the principles of the Barnett formula.
Reacting to a statement in the Commons, a number of MPs demanded greater transparency over where the money was coming from. Others, including Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff, asked whether additional money would be made available for their local communities and public services.
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron accused Mrs May of “throwing cash” at the DUP “in a grubby attempt to keep her Cabinet in No 10”, while IPPR North director Ed Cox urged ministers to ensure all English regions have the funding they need “to unlock their potential”.
THE PARLIAMENTARY pact negotiated by Scarboroughborn chief whip Gavin Williamson, and which Theresa May has now agreed with Arlene Foster, leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, will bring about three immediate benefits.
First, it means the Government can just about muster together a Commons majority if there are no rebellions, starting with Thursday’s vote on the Queen’s Speech which should give Mrs May the authority to remain PM. It buys the Tory leader precious time.
Second, concessions negotiated by the DUP mean that the pensions triple lock, and winter fuel payments, will remain in place for senior citizens across the United Kingdom – alienating the elderly has been a costly lesson in more ways than one for the Conservatives, though it remains to be seen how these measures will now be funded.
Third, the promise to invest an additional £1.5bn in total in Northern Ireland’s economy places an added onus on all political parties in the province to end the political paralysis that has left the Stormont power-sharing assembly in abeyance.
The whole of the United Kingdom will pay the price if political deadlock remains in Belfast, even more so given that future border arrangements between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are critical to safeguarding the hard-won peace and also the implementation of Brexit.
However, while people on this side of the Irish Sea will be relieved to learn that the DUP deal does not extend to issues of social conscience, it should be noted that the agreement only lasts for the duration of this Parliament. If the May government survives, and is in a position to deliver another Queen’s Speech in two years’ time, Ms Foster’s party will be able to make fresh demands.
Yet, while the Government’s fate is dependent on the support of the DUP’s tranche of 10 MPs, the same is equally true of the 15 Conservative MPs now representing Yorkshire constituencies. Given the current state of play, they, too, should be using their collective influence to ensure that promises made to this region, most notably on infrastructure investment, are honoured in full. With this county’s devolution arrangements in a state of limbo, it’s even more important that this region’s MPs come to the party and make their views clear to Mr Williamson.