While it’s not exactly noted for its informed political reporting, there seems to be some substance behind the claim by The Sun newspaper in Britain that Prime Minister Theresa May’s surprisingly hardline actions at the recent Salzburg summit of European Union leaders was forced upon her by her parliamentary partners in London, the Democratic Unionist Party. Locked into a backdoor coalition with the otherwise pariah grouping, the premier’s hope of offering a compromise deal to the EU on the issue of the border around the disputed British territory in the north-eastern corner of Ireland was allegedly squashed following a furious response by the DUP’s leadership at Westminster and in Belfast.
A BITTER row with the DUP left Theresa May unable to deliver any progress to EU leaders on Brexit talks – prompting them to reject her Chequers plan.
Ministers are in secret negotiations with the Ulster unionist party over a new bid by the PM to break the negotiations deadlock, The Sun has learned.
Mrs May wants to establish a different system of rules for goods in Northern Ireland than Great Britain as the missing part of a backstop plan to ensure the Irish border remains open.
But DUP leaders are refusing to agree the move, which they argue would split up the United Kingdom.
The PM’s failure to deliver the final part of the Northern Ireland backstop to EU leaders at a summit in Salzburg lead them to lash out at her and kill her Chequers plan, Brussels sources have claimed.
If the British press reporting is accurate, then for the second or third time in the last twelve months the future of Europe has been imperilled by an inept United Kingdom government reliant on a tiny far-right party and its militant allies in a toxic outpost of the UK’s former empire to stay in power.
AN SIONNACH FIONN 
not only do the DUP hold NI up to ransom
And prevent the entire island of ireland from progressing into the future
Now they hold the whip-hand over the hard-line Conservative UK government
And endanger all 3 places
will no one rid Ireland of this turbulent, meddlesome, troublesome entity?
LikeLike
Time will take it’s toll them – unfortunately not for another 40/50 years. But long before then the Unionist majority will have disappeared, and Arlene for one will have slunk off to retirement in England, nursing her own personal red, white and blue kerbstone (although by then the blue part will probably not be relevant any more).
LikeLike
Change needs to happen long before then. The people of NI are crying out for change. Many want to be able to vote on non sectarian lines but inexplicably, Labour refuses to allow candidates to stand claiming that the status quo agreement with the SDLP is sufficient. The SDLP whilst not being quite as backward as the DUP, are still backward and increasingly irrelevant in NI. The political landscape needs to be opened up if progress is to be achieved for the sake of peace and sanity. The likes of Arlene Foster needs to be relegated to the pages of history, they have no place in 2018.
LikeLike
Fact is Brexit has made Unity inevitable. The Unionism has had the past 20 years to make Northern Ireland a warm home for Nationalists Republicans but they abjectly failed to grasp that chance and therefore have shown the “No Catholics about the house” still very much in evidence. This failure will cost them
LikeLike