Comments on: Who are the DUP? Extreme social conservatives who have blocked gay marriage and abortion in Northern Ireland

By: Is Theresa May Ignoring Progressive Voters? – Naked Politics

Is Theresa May Ignoring Progressive Voters? – Naked Politics — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 23:40:03 +0000

[…] When May claimed that she would “reflect on the results” of the election it seemed to suggest that she would consider the reasons the voter share lurched to the left. Instead, she opted to seek refuge in the barren landscape to the right of the Conservative party resulting in the arch-conservative, regressive Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) becoming the unlikely power brokers in a weak and wobbly minority government. Opposition to the Abortion Act and to same-sex marriage are long off the Conservative agenda and yet those are the views of their potential partners in government. […]

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 11:51:22 +0000

The Labour’s sister part in N Ireland the SDLP also oppose changes to abortion laws in NI

By: Peter Ó Donnghaile

Peter Ó Donnghaile — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 14:38:56 +0000

Niamh misses out another major area of DUP failure- and one in which Northern Ireland, thanks to DUP obstructionism is grossly out of step with the devolved administrations of the island of Britain. One of the Celtic Languages is indigenous to each and every one of the provinces of the United Kingdom. The Welsh Language and the rights of speakers to use it in communication with the state is protected in Wales, and in my experience is widely used in the workplace, at community events and in the home. The Gaelic language has been protected to some extent in Scotland by the Gaelic Language Act (Scotland) 2005, though the rights of speakers to use the language in formal situations are only being ceded gradually. Meanwhile In Northern Ireland in spite of the provisions for the Gaelic ( referred to as Irish) language and her speakers specifically mandated in the Good Friday agreement of 1998 there is no Northern Irish legislation to give effect to this. The “Britishness” of Ulster unionism and its willingness to replace alienation with inclusion can and should be measured by it’s delivery of a meaningful Gaelic Language (Northern Ireland) Act as it’s first priority.

By: patrick newman

patrick newman — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 10:02:36 +0000

Alasdair, your scenario is frightenly plausible and I dont like it! However Davidson’s strong pitch on staying in the EU would finally split the Tories and an election would deal with rebel Blairites just like it did with the Gang of Four.

By: felicity de Zulueta

felicity de Zulueta — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 09:56:53 +0000

Have you followed the news that DUP is involved in the ‘dark funding’ of Brexit which used facebook etc to influence the tory vote in Scotland and more: see Open Democracy.

By: patrick newman

patrick newman — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 09:56:38 +0000

Marcus, “straight” as opposed to …?
With or without the DUP you can say good bye to fox slaughter for pleasure, grammar schools, possibly free schools, removal of free school meals for the very young, ending of triple lock and winter fuel allowance, etc.
It is easy to underestimate the impact the DUP arrangement will have on power sharing and, most worrying, the whole peace process.
I see the climate change deniers have discovered this site!

By: Marcus van der Voorn

Marcus van der Voorn — Sun, 11 Jun 2017 11:16:12 +0000

At least with the DUP some common sense returns into the Westminster government on the issue of climate change, or as I prefer to call it anthropogenic global warming.
Anthropogenic global warming is more of a religion than substantiated by science or empirical data (hard evidence).
On other issues like gay marriage and other rights for this specific group I could not even disagree more with the DUP. Those people are genetically determined to be gay, just as a straight or bisexual person is genetically determined to be straight or bisexual. They are just as creatures of God as straight people are. So who are we (the so called straight people) to deny those people the same rights as we bestow on straight people (marriage, registered partnership and child adoption)?
And on the question whether this alliance between the Tories and the DUP will last?
Why not, as long as common sense in this case will prevail(give and take), it can take as long as 5 years (the official tenure of the Westminster parliament).

By: Alasdair Macdonald

Alasdair Macdonald — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 12:21:58 +0000

Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin you now have the opportunity to campaign for your hero, Ms Ruth Davidson. There is wall-to-wall coverage of the ‘assurance’ she has received from Mrs May that the DUP’s execrable (and it is execrable to decent people across the political spectrum) policy on same-sex marriage will not be adopted. Thus the myth of her ‘liberal’ credentials are confirmed.

Today, we have the Blairite counter revolution starting with Mr Chris Leslie pouring cold water on Labour’s achievement in the recent election as ‘not enough’. Labour in Scotland had to be pressed several times on whether any of its 7 MPs would service in the Shadow Cabinet and eventually gave a less-than-unequivocal statement.

The Tories have realised quickly that the association with the DUP will be toxic for many reasons. (It was probably another of ‘strong-and-stable’s’ panicky, on-the-hoof decisions.) So, once a Queen’s Speech is passed the DUP will be jettisoned. Mrs May will resign (‘health reasons’ ‘diabetic’, strain of her valiant election campaign’ etc. An interim leader will be installed, like Sir Michael Fallon, who is clearly ‘interim’. Mrs May will resign her Maidenhead seat. Ms Davidson will be adopted as the candidate, elected and, after a short while, elected leader – “gay, female, socially liberal, feisty, common sense, no nonsense, hammer of the Nats, proven leader in Scotland, etc.” It is a good marketing pitch.

Meanwhile, 10/15 Blairites resign the Labour whip and form an ‘SDP’ type group who support the government on a confidence-and-supply basis. The government would have a working majority of 20/30, enough to cope with a huffy DUP backlash.

After a short period where ‘strong-and-stable’ Ruth Davidson is lauded by all the media, including LFF, an election is called …… “Strong and Stable versus a friend of terrorists whom his own party hate’ (deja vu????)

Will the electorate buy it? They rejected it this week.

Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin – your views please?

By: Craig Mackay

Craig Mackay — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 11:05:52 +0000

Surely you’re not suggesting that the combination of the Tories plus the DUP might give us a “coalition of chaos”?

By: barry

barry — Fri, 09 Jun 2017 12:06:02 +0000

This desicion shows two things, the eagerness of the political mind to hang onto power at all costs and secondly, the obsequos rise to power of the totalitarian mind.How long this marriage of political asperity will last, is open for debate but , ostensibly at least , we have a budding situation where the United Kingdom will be governed by the will of an off shore splinter group. Not good.