BEDFELLOWS: DUP leader Arlene Foster and Theresa May

THERESA May has formed a government with Northern Ireland’s DUP after losing her overall majority this morning. 

Speaking in Downing Street, after a 20-minute meeting with the Queen, May said the move will provide the ‘certainty’ the country needed.

“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,” she said.

“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 DUP are staunchly against gay marriage and abortion.

The party once appointed climate change denier Sammy Wilson as its environment minister.

Mr Wilson said it was a ‘con’ to suggest humans had changed weather patterns.

Maypromised Brexit talks would go ahead unaffected, but would start in 10 days’ time, to ‘deliver on the will of the British people by taking the United Kingdom out of the European Union’.

In the wake of the recent terror attacks, she said she would be ‘cracking down on the ideology of Islamist extremism and all those who support it. And giving the police and the authorities the powers they need to keep our country safe’.

She said the government will last for five years.

She is likely to face big challenges in reasserting her authority.

It is the first time a UK prime minister has had to rely on Irish support for a majority since 1910.

 

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18 COMMENTS

    • Not too sure about that Jane. If this deadbeat really does make it as far as the Brussels negotiations, all she has left is to flounce out, claiming the other side is too intransigent to deal with. (knowing there is toss-all she can win with her own intransigence) Thus the hardest Brexit of all will ensue.
      She needs replacing. Rapid!

  1. The British voter has decided: “Enough is enough” and left her as Theresa May the Unelected.
    The result of the vote may be a chance for Great Britain: If Tories and DUP will not be able to agree on a Brexit scheme, then in early 2019 the voter may be asked again, if he still wants a Brexit.
    What a pitty for the UK that within the coming 21 months the government will not be able to run the country besides Brexit negotiations and besides hiding the small majority of the two coalition parties.

    • The problem is Wolfgang T.May was elected on the same principle as those elected that run the EU, the difference is that through democracy the people of the UK had a choice much unlike the people of the EU. Perhaps you may give an opinion of what would happen in the case of the EU, at least a change in the UK will happen which took place in a matter of a few weeks, how long would it take for a change to be made in the EU although there is talk that a change should be made, but it’s just talk. Personally I believe an agreement should be made regarding citizens rights of both UK and EU citizens and if no deal can be struck on other matters then the UK leaves. I don’t believe the UK or other countries in the EU wishes to be forever more under the control of a “undemocratically” voted system whose main aim is to create a Federal state. Do you also believe Germany should continue footing the bill for the rest of the EU members the same as America is footing the bill of NATO members.
      Perhaps a good and proper start for true democracy in the EU would be that the selectected representative of each country should hold a referendum of any changes being suggested instead of just being made by the “unelected”. We have seen the vast changes being made from the original concept of a common market which basically the UK is trying to achieve again notwithstanding other agreements between nations which does not interfere with their democracy.

    • “The British voter has decided: “Enough is enough” and left her as Theresa May the Unelected”.
      The Problem I find with your comment Wolfgang is that T.May was elected on the same principal as the unelected heads of the EU and unfortunately there is not a same democratically voting system in the EU as in the UK.

  2. What we see, overall in Europe, in Spain, interestingly enough, the same happened, is that democracy wins.
    Absulte majorities are like, you can play Erdogan or Putin (or Trump) for the next 4 years. A minority government has to seek common sense from day to day.
    Populists are down. Common sense is up.
    The precentage of idiots in the US is around 50%. In Russia it is 90%. In Turkey it is unknown but presumably high. In Europe, the common voter is not an idiot. They seek what is best. Absolute power is not a good thing. European voters show this in the way they vote. Because there is more to protect than to attack. More than dreaming about growing, clearly prefer to protect where we stand now.

    With absolute power, you do not have to talk with anyone. Because you can say you have “the mandate of the voter”. And can ignore all common sense for 4 years. There simply is too much at stake.

    Democracy is not is the system. It is in the people. In the culture.

  3. Jianna – Trump did not win the popular vote, so it is maybe 47 percent of voters are idiots. Unforntunately, voter turnout was very low, so it is hard to gauge the ral number of idiot – high no doubt but nowhere near 50%.
    The real problem is the US Electoral College system which is not an accurate reflection of US preferences. And then there is the rigging of House of Representatives voting districts in, especially, low education rural states. These district borders are determined by counties when the party affiliation of the Governor matches the affiliation in counties so that remapping can be remapped making it virtually guaranteed for the next national elections. That is especailly serious as these ignorant bumpkins control the flow of legislation by blocking proposals from even entering the Senate. Worse, impeachment isn’t likely because the reactionary House must bring charges – and thewon’t, at leasr, not yet.
    So, the minority is running the show, a bit similar to what is now happening in UK.

  4. chas, I thought the Conservatives won the GE, if not which party is now in charge of the UK government. How many votes does it need to win. It’s like saying “the horse ‘won’ by a head”. Did the horse win or lose.

    • It’s a majority wot counts. Without a majority in Parliament, no business can be done, no power exists in the hands of the “winners”. (If you could describe the current gang of deadbeats as “winners”)
      This horse carlos old boy, came in arse first.
      So off we go to the kingmakers in Ulster, to get the backing of people even to the right of Genghis Khan, in order to keep a lame duck in number ten and an inarticulate robot to do our bidding in Brussels. Why should Britain tremble?

    • Chas, the Conservatives technically won the GE but they have lost their majority and a lot of power. This is precisely what we (Remainers) wanted because it will force a soft Brexit and you can already see how the direction of travel has changed with business leaders and other prominent Remain supporters wading in and getting traction. Even Eurosceptic Conservatives are turning against a hard Brexit because they know it will crash the economy.

      This election result was achieved by organised tactical voting. It didn’t work in every seat but it is a good result overall and will force a change of direction.

  5. Each to their own I’m afraid stef, even winning by a nose. Some good may come from the “marriage”, at least they are for the triple lock for pensioners. and although the DUP are for Brexit, but with a softer approach, who knows stef, it could even save your arse, so don’t upset them too much.

  6. The Conservatives had a better turnout than anyone since Thatcher, May actually pulled in more voters than the last election. Her problem was Corbyn giving lots of money away especially to students for free university which added to Labours vote. Without the promises of a huge givaway and enormous spending Labour would not have got the votes they did. they did a good campaign on Social media in schools to get the 18-20 year olds to vote for them.
    I also do not understand why people are scared of the so called Hard exit. There are many countries that want to trade with us but can not because of Europe and the UK would be better off without the EU taking a cut of everything.

  7. Let’s be honest here. Soft Brexit means we are still in the EU. The referendum was a vote to leave which meant a hard Brexit. Trading with the EU will continue with or without tariffs on both sides of the water but we will not be obliged to be paying billions of pounds each year into their coffers and we will not be paying the ridiculous sum of billions for a divorce of which they are demanding. Trading with the rest of the World will be prohibited if we are part of the customs union and all the work that Liam Fox has achieved would be worthless as many countries have already agreed free trade agreements with the UK once we have left. Lets just stick to an agreement regarding the UK and EU citizens rights and let’s break away from the dominance of Germany that controls the EU. As for Macron, just a lap dog for Merkel. One should read the history of Germany, a Germany that wishes to control the whole of Europe and beyond going back many-many years. So we now have the German Defence Minister suggesting today that the EU should have an army so that European countries can intervene (naturally controlled by Germany) more regularly in areas of the world where NATO is not present, the first call that has been suggested is Africa. What next, perhaps Russia. Germany has been after land masses of Russia going back many years. Germany had tried twice before and were stopped but with a European army backing, Europe together with Germany could lead both to a complete destruction. Perhap Trump was correct when he stated and could foresee that NATO was obsolete.
    Does the UK really wish to be part of all this. All Britain is asking simply is agreements on free trade with countries that wish to do so, is that so bad.

  8. If the US wasn’t saddled with the electoral college voting system it would be easier for US citizens to confront the minority ultra right. It is nice to see that BREXIT is softening. We still have hopes (albeit very slim) that the worst of BREXIT, even BREXIT itself, will fail.

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