£1bn for DUP is ‘just the start’
Unionists sign agreement to prop up Tories, but May is warned they will be back for more
THE Democratic Unionist Party’s £1billion deal to prop up the Conservative Government may come at an even greater cost because the DUP will be “back for more”, it was claimed last night.
The Tories finally sealed a historic deal with the Northern Irish party which guarantees that its 10 MPS will vote with the Government on key legislation, in return for cash that will go to Belfast for infrastructure, broadband, schools and hospitals.
It means public spending per capita in Northern Ireland will increase to £11,535, 31 per cent more than the £8,816 spent per head in England.
But the £1 billion payment – the equivalent of £33 for every taxpayer in the UK – could be only the start after DUP sources hinted that they will ask for more cash when the deal is “reviewed” in two years.
The SNP reacted by immediately demanding more money for Scotland, while the Welsh government claimed it should be given £1.7 billion to achieve parity with Ulster.
Sinn Fein, meanwhile, claimed the deal threatened the Good Friday Agreement.
After 18 days of negotiations, Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, flew to London yesterday to oversee the signing of the deal.
Theresa May chose not to sign the document, instead leaving it to Gavin Williamson, the Conservative chief whip, to do so at the Cabinet table in Downing Street.
It means that if the deal outlasts Mrs May’s tenure as Prime Minister, there will be no need for it to be re-signed by her successor. The DUP extracted a heavy price from the Conservatives for the support of its MPS.
In addition to the money Northern Ireland will receive, the party will effectively have a veto on Government legislation as it will be consulted before Bills are put forward.
The party also insisted that the Conservatives retain universal winter fuel payments and the pensions triple lock until the next general election, which is scheduled for 2022. Until now, the Tories had only said the manifesto commitments would not be put into action in the current two-year parliamentary session.
The DUP’S side of the bargain is to vote with Conservative MPS on the Queen’s Speech, the Budget, financial Bills and legislation relating to Brexit and national security.
Northern Ireland will receive £400 million for infrastructure, £150million for ultra-fast broadband, £100million to relieve “pressures” on schools and hospitals, £200million for health, £100million to relieve “severe deprivation” and £50million for mental health services.
Most of the money will be paid over the next two years and, while the deal is intended to last for five years, it can be reviewed after Brexit in two years’
time. That would allow the DUP to demand more cash to continue to support the Tory Government after May 2019 when the next Parliament is due to begin.
Lord Macpherson of Earl’s Court, the Treasury’s permanent secretary from 2005 to 2016, warned that the £1 billion was “just a down payment”.
He said: “The DUP will be back for more… again and again… they have previous in such matters.”
Downing Street claimed the DUP would not be given more money because the cash was for Northern Ireland, not the DUP, and would be channelled through the Stormont Assembly.
But Number 10 later admitted that if talks fail to reach an agreement to restore power-sharing at Stormont before Thursday’s deadline, the money would be spent anyway – seen by some critics as an incentive for the DUP not to reach a deal with the republican parties in Ulster. The DUP will be consulted on policies through a new civil service-backed “co-ordination committee” which will ensure that Conservative plans for new laws have DUP support.
One source said “policy formation” will be run past the committee, which will have at least two permanent members – Mr Williamson and Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP chief whip, who signed the agreement on behalf of their parties.
Even before the deal was struck, public spending per head in Northern Ireland was already far higher than in the other three countries that make up the UK.
The agreement will take per capita spending in Ulster to £11,535 based on 2015-16 figures, or 27 per cent above the UK average of £9,076. In England, it was £8,816 – 3 per cent below the UK average.
In Scotland spending was £10,536 per head – 16 per cent above the UK average – and in Wales it was £9,996 per head – 10 per cent above the UK average.
Most of the cash is being channelled through city deals to avoid triggering more sums to be paid to Scotland, England or Wales through the controversial Barnett formula, which dictates how much money goes to devolved powers.
Downing Street insisted none of the money going to Northern Ireland was subject to the Barnett formula because it was all for specific projects, even though NHS spending, among others things, comes under Barnett.
However, Kirsty Blackman, the deputy leader of the SNP in Westminster, said “Barnett funding for Scotland must follow” while 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”.