Wednesday, October 03, 2018
Is the UK Government being held hostage by the militant wing of the Christian right?
So now we know. It isn't just Boris Johnson who is holding Theresa May's feet to the fire over Brexit. The real threat comes from the DUP, otherwise known as the militant wing of the Christian right.
The Independent reports that Theresa May's DUP allies have threatened to torpedo her Brexit plans and vowed to vote with Labour if the proposals breach their red lines. Their Westminster leader Nigel Dodds has said that his party will not tolerate a border of "any kind" down the Irish Sea, effectively ruling out potential regulatory checks at Irish Sea ports as part of a backstop agreement.
He has indicated that his party will walk through the voting lobbies with Jeremy Corbyn, despite their animosity towards the Labour leader over his perceived support for republicanism:
Mr Dodds told a fringe event at Conservative conference: "Let us be clear that for the DUP there will be no border of any kind down the Irish Sea - customs, regulatory, political, constitutional or otherwise because we are part of the UK and we will leave the EU together and as one nation.
"The danger of this Irish backstop is that it has the potential, to not only separate Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, in any divergence that there may be from it, it also has the potential to shackle the UK for generations to come in its relationship with Europe.
"That is why it is critical that we get it right and the DUP will not be signing up to any backstop unless we are sure that every line of it complies with our requirements that I have set out."
This commitment to a unified nation state is though very much skin deep. A party that could only command 28% of the vote in its home province at the last General Election, is seeking to hold the rest of us to ransom.
And yet when it comes to same-sex marriage and abortion the DUP is content to stand apart from the rest of the UK. This is a party that does not even represent majority opinion in Northern Ireland and yet it feels able to single-handedly wreck a peace process that has prevailed for 20 years.
In any hung Parliament or coalition, the smaller parties will often be the tail wagging the dog. But they are duty-bound in my view to exercise that privilege responsibly acting in the National interest not those of a narrow dogma. The DUP has failed that test. Theresa May should find alternative arrangements to sustain her minority government.
The Independent reports that Theresa May's DUP allies have threatened to torpedo her Brexit plans and vowed to vote with Labour if the proposals breach their red lines. Their Westminster leader Nigel Dodds has said that his party will not tolerate a border of "any kind" down the Irish Sea, effectively ruling out potential regulatory checks at Irish Sea ports as part of a backstop agreement.
He has indicated that his party will walk through the voting lobbies with Jeremy Corbyn, despite their animosity towards the Labour leader over his perceived support for republicanism:
Mr Dodds told a fringe event at Conservative conference: "Let us be clear that for the DUP there will be no border of any kind down the Irish Sea - customs, regulatory, political, constitutional or otherwise because we are part of the UK and we will leave the EU together and as one nation.
"The danger of this Irish backstop is that it has the potential, to not only separate Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, in any divergence that there may be from it, it also has the potential to shackle the UK for generations to come in its relationship with Europe.
"That is why it is critical that we get it right and the DUP will not be signing up to any backstop unless we are sure that every line of it complies with our requirements that I have set out."
This commitment to a unified nation state is though very much skin deep. A party that could only command 28% of the vote in its home province at the last General Election, is seeking to hold the rest of us to ransom.
And yet when it comes to same-sex marriage and abortion the DUP is content to stand apart from the rest of the UK. This is a party that does not even represent majority opinion in Northern Ireland and yet it feels able to single-handedly wreck a peace process that has prevailed for 20 years.
In any hung Parliament or coalition, the smaller parties will often be the tail wagging the dog. But they are duty-bound in my view to exercise that privilege responsibly acting in the National interest not those of a narrow dogma. The DUP has failed that test. Theresa May should find alternative arrangements to sustain her minority government.
