Her Downing Street office had announced on Saturday that the “principles of an outline agreement” with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) had been agreed, only for the DUP itself to cast doubt on that account hours later. It was another humiliation for May, and a sign that the socially conservative DUP, with its strong focus on Northern Ireland’s specific political complexities, will not necessarily be a compliant partner for her minority government. The DUP statement put Downing Street on the back foot, prompting a carefully worded response in the early hours of Sunday. That said May had “spoken with the DUP to discuss finalising” a deal in the coming week. Fallon said the DUP would agree to back the Conservatives on big economic and security issues.

Source: Hindustan Times June 11, 2017 09:11 UTC