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11/09/2017

BBC Radio 4 - The DUP Deal

BBC Ireland correspondent Chris Page examines the deal between the Tories and the DUP.

BBC Ireland correspondent Chris Page examines the deal between the Conservative party and the Democratic Unionists to prop up the minority government, assessing its implications.

The 'confidence and supply' agreement struck between the Conservative Party and the Democratic Unionists in June 2017 guaranteed an extra £1bn of funding for Northern Ireland and secured a working majority for the government in parliament. 

In exchange for the support of 10 DUP MPs in key parliamentary votes, the government also committed to giving the Stormont Executive greater flexibility over how a further £500m is spent. The Tories and the DUP said it would bring much-needed stability to Westminster. But critics branded the agreement a "grubby deal" which amounted to "cash for votes". 

Three months down the line, BBC Ireland Correspondent, Chris Page, looks at how the deal was reached, how it is working and what its implications might be. 

Chris examines the evolving response to the deal from the opposition, the media, the devolved nations and inside the Conservative Party. He looks at previous examples of such deals forged between minority Governments and parties from Ireland - from the Home Rule Bills of the 19th Century to John Major's government in the 1990s - as he asks what history can tell us about the true nature of this latest arrangement. 

With the DUP already exerting influence on Conservative party policy in areas such as pensions and winter fuel payments, Chris examines how the DUP's new leverage is playing out and how the party is being perceived in its new position at the centre stage of British politics. Politicians and commentators offer their insight as to how the DUP deal may play out. 

Chris also asks if the deal presents a threat to political stability in Northern Ireland and whether it affects the chances of the power-sharing administration at Stormont being restored.

Producer: Paul McKillion.

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