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DUP deal to prop up minority Tory Government set to cost billions more as party hints it will 'back for more'

Nigel Dodds, Theresa May, Arlene Foster and Sir Jeffrey Donaldson - AFP
Nigel Dodds, Theresa May, Arlene Foster and Sir Jeffrey Donaldson - AFP

The Democratic Unionist Party’s £1 billion deal to prop up the Conservative government may end up costing the country far more because the DUP will be “back for more”, it emerged last night.

The Tories finally sealed a historic deal with the Northern Irish party which guarantees its 10 MPs will vote with the Government on key legislation, in return for which cash will go to Belfast for infrastructure, broadband, schools and hospitals.

But the £1billion payment - the equivalent of £33 for every taxpayer in the UK - could be only the start after DUP sources hinted that they will ask for more cash when the deal is “reviewed” in two years’ time.

The SNP reacted by immediately demanding more money for Scotland, while the Welsh government claimed it should be given £1.7 bn to achieve parity with Ulster. Sinn Fein, meanwhile, claimed the deal threatened the Good Friday Agreement.

After 18 days of negotiations, the DUP leader Arlene Foster flew to London yesterday to oversee the signing of the deal.

Theresa May chose not to sign the document, instead leaving it to the Conservative chief whip Gavin Williamson to do so at the Cabinet table in Downing Street.

It means that if the deal outlasts Mrs May’s tenure as Prime Minister, there will be no need for it to be re-signed by her successor.

The DUP extracted a heavy price from the Conservatives for the support of its MPs.

In addition to the money Northern Ireland will receive, the party will effectively have a veto on Government legislation as it will be consulted before bills are put forward.

The party also insisted that the Conservatives retain universal winter fuel payments and the pensions triple lock until the next general election, which is scheduled for 2022.

Until now the Tories had only said the manifesto commitments would not be put into action in the current two-year parliamentary session.

The DUP’s side of the bargain is to vote with Conservative MPs on the Queen's Speech, the Budget, financial bills and legislation relating to Brexit and national security.

Northern Ireland will receive £400 million for infrastructure, £150m for ultra-fast broadband, £100 to relieve “pressures” on schools and hospitals, £200m for health, £100m to relieve “severe deprivation” and £50m for mental health services.

Most of the money will be paid over the next two years, and while the deal is intended to last for five years it can be reviewed after Brexit in two years’ time.

That would allow the DUP to demand more cash to continue to support the Tory Government after May 2019 when the next Parliament is due to begin.

Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court, the Treasury's permanent secretary from 2005 to 2016, warned that the £1 billion was “just a down payment”.

He said: “The DUP will be back for more...again and again...they have previous in such matters.”

Downing Street claimed the DUP would not be given more money because the cash was for Northern Ireland, not the DUP, and would be channelled through the Stormont Assembly.

But Number 10 later admitted that if talks fail to reach an agreement to restore power-sharing at Stormont before Thursday’s deadline, the money would be spent anyway - seen by some critics as an incentive for the DUP not to reach a deal with the republican parties in Ulster.

The DUP will be consulted on policies through a new civil service-backed “coordination committee” which will ensure Conservative plans for new laws have DUP support.

One source said “policy formation” will be run past the committee, which will have at least two permanent members – Gavin Williamson, the Conservative chief whip, and Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP chief whip, who signed the agreement on behalf of their parties.

The agreement will take public spending per head in Northern Ireland to £11,533 based on 2015/16 figures, up nine per cent.

In that year public spending per head in the UK as a whole was £9,076. In England, it was £8,816 – 3 per cent below the UK average.

Key articles | Democratic Unionist Party
Key articles | Democratic Unionist Party

In Scotland spending was £10,536 per head – 16 per cent above the UK average – and in Wales it was £9,996 per head – 10 per cent above the UK average.

Most of the cash is being channelled through city deals to avoid triggering more sums to be paid to Scotland, England or Wales through the controversial Barnett formula, which dictates how much money goes to devolved powers.

Downing Street insisted none of the money going to Northern Ireland was subject to the Barnett formula because it was all for specific projects, even though NHS spending, among others things, comes under Barnett.

However Kirsty Blackman, the deputy leader of the SNP in Westminster, said “Barnett funding for Scotland must follow” while the Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones described the payment as a “straight bung to keep a weak Prime Minister and a faltering Government in office” and said Wales was now owed £1.7bn under Barnett rules.

The Scottish National Party's Westminster leader Ian Blackford said: "For years the Tories have been cutting budgets and services, but suddenly they have found a magic money tree to help them stay in power."

The terms of the deal make clear that the DUP will have "no involvement in the UK Government's role in political talks in Northern Ireland".

Key questions | Northern Ireland and Brexit
Key questions | Northern Ireland and Brexit

But Labour warned the deal with the DUP would undermine the trust in the impartiality of the British Government which was vital to the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

Emily Thornberry, the shadow Foreign secretary said: "For the Government to be putting such an agreement in jeopardy just to prop up this dismal Prime Minister is nothing short of a disgrace.”

Sinn Fein said the DUP was effectively supporting "a blank cheque for a Tory Brexit which threatens the Good Friday Agreement".

Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, raised concerns about a commitment contained in the deal for the Tories and the DUP to support the implementation of the Armed Forces Covenant throughout the UK.

He said Sinn Fein would “resolutely oppose” any preferential treatment for British soldiers on services like healthcare, education and housing under the terms of the Covenant, as they do on the mainland.

Theresa May’s decision not to put her signature on the deal - or even to present it to the Commons, which she left to her deputy, Damian Green - means it would not have to be agreed again if she quits as Prime Minister and Tory leader before 2022.

A Tory source said Mrs May not signing the deal would mean that “it would not require having to have a new confidence and supply document stitched up by May’s successor”.

The absence of Mrs May’s name on the deal was a “soothing balm gesture to the Conservative party”, the source said.

A spokesman for Conservatives said it had been agreed during the negotiations that the deal would be signed by Mr Williamson and Sir Jeffrey.