The lady’s not for turning – May looks to govern for next five years
PARTIES BEGIN TO FORM THEIR OWN ACTION PLANS IN BID TO GAIN POWER AFTER ELECTION RESULT
Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will form an administration to govern Britain for the next five years – despite disastrous results which left her without an overall majority in the House of Commons.
The Conservative leader’s decision to call a snap election to cement her position backfired when the results left her short of the MPs she needed to command within Parliament.
In a statement in Downing Street, the Prime Minister made clear she would rely on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party in order to get her programme through the house.
She said despite losing a dozen MPs in the June 8 poll, she intended to press ahead with plans to take the UK out of the European Union and forge a new trade deal with its former partners.
DUP leader Arlene Foster confirmed she had spoken to the Prime Minister and would be entering talks with the Conservatives to discuss “how it may it be possible to bring stability to our nation at this time of great challenge”.
Mrs May faced calls from within her own party to consider her position after the election, which she brought forward by three years in the hope it would deliver her a comfortable Commons majority, ended with Labour making significant advances.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn urged her to resign and allow him to form a minority administration, declaring: “We are ready to serve this country.”
But, after intensive talks with the DUP as the final election results came in, the Prime Minister instead drove the short distance to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen for permission to form a new Government.
Speaking after her return from a 20-minute audience with the Queen, Mrs May said she intended to form a new administration to take Britain into the Brexit negotiations beginning on June 19.
“What the country needs more than ever is certainty, and having secured the largest number of votes and the greatest number of seats in the General Election, it is clear that only the Conservative and Unionist Party has the legitimacy and ability to provide that certainty by commanding a majority in the House of Commons,” she said.
“As we do, we will continue to work with our friends and allies in the Democratic Unionist Party in particular.
“Our two parties have enjoyed a strong relationship over many years, and this gives me the confidence to believe that we will be able to work together in the interests of the whole United Kingdom.”
The coalition move is set to make the DUP the kingmakers in the new Westminster.
As party leader Ms Foster warned it would be difficult for Mrs May to stay in Number 10, the former Stormont first minister is in line to be power broker for any new Government.
The focus was immediately on Ms Foster’s wish-list and any Brexit concessions for Northern Ireland as her party prepare to talk to the Conservatives over the weekend. I certainly think that there will be contact made over the weekend but I think it’s too soon to talk about what we’re going to do.
“I think we need to wait and see,” Ms Foster said.
Amid noises of the DUP agreeing a confidence and supply arrangement with the Conservatives, Ms Foster will be looking for guarantees on preventing a hard border with the Republic of Ireland and any new customs operations.
One red line is the idea of Northern Ireland being granted some sort of “special status” when Brexit comes to pass.
The DUP will not stand for any arrangement that physically sets the region apart from anywhere else in the UK, including suggestions that border, immigration and customs controls could be set up at ports and airports like Stranraer and Liverpool, rather than in Belfast or Larne.
Another big price to pay for the party’s support in Westminster could be the reinstatement of any EU subsidies that farmers lose when Brexit is a done deal, worth about £350million a year.
“What the country needs more than ever is certainty” THERESA MAY