DUP demands £2bn for deal

TALKS between the Tories and DUP could end without a deal, ministers accepted yesterday, as it emerged that the Northern Irish party is demanding up to £2billion in extra funding.

No agreement has been struck despite 12 days of haggling and Theresa May announcing the Queen’s Speech.

DUP leaders in Belfast are said to be demanding £1billion extra funding for health and another £1billion for infrastructure. That would represent a 20 per cent increase in the Northern Ireland block grant. It would also equate to £1,100 for each of the province’s 1.8million people.

Nigel Dodds, who is the DUP leader in Westminster, told MPs he wanted ‘an end to the dark tunnel of austerity’. First Secretary of State Damian Green admitted that it was now ‘possible we won’t be able to agree’.

Another minister suggested the prospects of a deal were just 50/50.

And a source close to the talks suggested the DUP was ‘running a real risk of overplaying their hand’.

DUP negotiators broke off talks for 36 hours this week and refused to answer the phone to Tory ministers, the Daily Telegraph reported. Mrs May is seeking a confidence and supply deal that would secure votes from the 10 DUP MPs for her legislative programme. The vote on the Queen’s Speech will take place next week.

A DUP source said the two sides remained ‘miles apart’ on key elements of a proposed deal. If no deal is done it would mean Mrs May having to secure agreement from opposition MPs for each individual law.

Mr Green told the BBC: ‘There’s every possibility of a DUP deal. The talks have been taking place in a constructive way.’

As well as extra transport and health spending, the DUP wants cuts to corporation tax, the scrapping of air passenger duty and more economic powers for councils in the province. It also wants assurances about higher defence spending.