Tory-DUP Confidence And Supply deal

[vonuber]

What about Sinn Fein and power sharing?

[gooner1]

Tannedbaldhead said:

bhstewie said:

Who are the Tories going to bribe next

Scotland.

I'm not sure if the English public are aware of just how autonomous the Scottish Conservative Party are. They are a borderline (no pun intended) separate party. My MP (Tory) got my vote because he promised the Scottish Tories were not there to back May but to best look after the interests and wishes of their constituency, Scotland.

What's more, he'd better. He's got a majority of about 140. If May can't keep it together and there's an election a few gays, a few Catholics uncomfortable with the alliance with the bigoted anti-Catholic DUP, a few social liberals, a few remainers looking for as soft a Brexit as possible and a few disgruntled Scots unhappy at, say, the injustice of NI getting a disproportionate share of available funds and he's out. I'm not a nationalist but I like the fact the threat of independence is sitting there like a gun at the head of Scottish conservative MPs keen to hold on to their seats. I told him at my door my support is very precarious and if Scottish Tories aren't ferociously independent of the Conservative Party as a whole then Scotland will be more likely to be independent of the Union. There are a lot of Scots voting Conservative who are like-minded.

It may sound like a contradiction but in spite of this the Scots Tories are feeling emboldened. Ruth Davidson upped the Conservative vote north of the border. May lost MPs in droves. If it wasn't for the Scottish Conservatives she wouldn't even have a working majority with the DUP onside.

An MP said last week in anticipation of a hand-out to Northern Ireland said he expected a reciprocal and proportionate increase in budget to be allocated to Scotland. This wasn't a left wing loony Corbynite or fanatical Nationalist but a member of the Cabinet, a front bench Conservative, Secretary Of State For Scotland, David Mundell.

In answer to your question bhstewie the next bribe will be £2.9 billion Edinburgh-bound.

Ruth Davidson has already discounted any added funds for Scotland, under the Barnet agreement at least, and I think Mundell has said something similar but I may well be wrong on the latter.

[gooner1]

On the bright side
The DUP have denied they are a party of Dinosaurs,
Which is strange, considering they deny Dinosaurs ever existed.

[Carl_Manchester]

BigMon said:

Eddie Strohacker said:

£120m on a failed election. £1bn on bribing 10 MP's to prop up the government, but let's make this ALL about Labour. Incredible.

Only on N,P&E.

Apparently £1 billion+ is peanuts now too.

This whole thing has been an utter shambles, with the only ray of sunshine the fact that Corbyn didn't get in.

In the context that the bill would be much higher due to an unstable government unable to pass the most basic legislation, then 'yes' £1bn is small beer.

The problem I have about the Labour 'opposition' to this deal is that, as others have pointed out, is they are trying to de-stabilise the government and the country rather than being in opposition. By all means scrutinise the deal but I am finding the opposition commentary from Labour deeply unpatriotic.

We have bigger fish to fry now, government (tory and labour) need to get on with the job, squabbling about 0.25% of GDP (or whatever the true figure is) is simply trying to re-arrange the deckchairs on the titantic.

£1bn over the term of the parliament is the real-world equivalent of finding £10 down the back of the sofa.

[BigMon]

p1stonhead said:

people saying 'but labour would be worse!' just shows how bad things are that they have to rely on such a pathetic defence.

A calamitous Conservative cockup.

[citizensm1th]

Is there president in modern british parliamentary history of one party using public money to pay such a huge amount to another party in parliament to guarantee votes?

If this sets a president i can foresee a situation where labour pay the snp or the welsh nats for votes

this is very bad for our democracy and has just accelerated the race to the bottom

we may as well stay in the european union if we are going to act like Italians

[smn159]

Arlene Foster is the “least trustworthy’ and least likeable” party leader in Northern Ireland, according to LucidTalk’s latest Tracker poll.

Some pretty serious competition over there too, so that's some achievement

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/general-ele...

Serious flaws in the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), set up by Foster in 2012, could cost taxpayers £400m.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-3830...

So useless as well as untrustworthy. No wonder she wanted the extra £1Bn.

This is going to end really badly.

[bitchstewie]

NRS said:

bhstewie said:

Think how many good things could be done with a billion quid in light of recent events, yet here we are paying a billion quid for 10 votes.

I very much agree. I've put together a suggestion for what good things the billion quid could have been spent on. It covers things like development to improve services for people, provides job creation, helping out poor people (very Labour like) and covers healthcare (again very "typical Labour"). What do you think?

£400 Million for projects such as the York Street Interchange
£150 Million for faster broadband
£100 Million to tackle pockets of severe deprivation
£100 Million to address pressures in health and education
£200 Million for health services transformation
£50 Million for Mental Health

£50m to help with homelessness.

That's the thing when you can magic up a billion quid just like that for your grubby little deal - you lose all credibility then next time you say "Sorry, there's no money".

[bitchstewie]

Carl_Manchester said:

By all means scrutinise the deal but I am finding the opposition commentary from Labour deeply unpatriotic.

Put party politics and your own political leanings to one side and look at it objectively.

What patriotic commentary would you like? What possible spin paints this as a good use of our money?

Your comment about it being a tenner down the back of the sofa, well that's all well and good but if a tenner is scale we're working to there are plenty of people for whom yesterday there wasn't 10 pence.

[sidicks]

bhstewie said:

Put party politics and your own political leanings to one side and look at it objectively.

What patriotic commentary would you like? What possible spin paints this as a good use of our money?

Your comment about it being a tenner down the back of the sofa, well that's all well and good but if a tenner is scale we're working to there are plenty of people for whom yesterday there wasn't 10 pence.

Are these people that are already getting hundreds of pounds?

[BigMon]

sidicks said:

Are these people that are already getting hundreds of pounds?

Which people are getting hundreds of pounds?

[bitchstewie]

sidicks said:

Are these people that are already getting hundreds of pounds?

I'm not sure who "these people" are?

[sidicks]

bhstewie said:

sidicks said:

Are these people that are already getting hundreds of pounds?

I'm not sure who "these people" is?

Who were you referring to when you commented on the "plenty of people for whom yesterday there wasn't 10 pence" ?

[BigMon]

sidicks said:

Who are the "plenty of people for whom yesterday there wasn't 10 pence" ?

Rather than answering a question with a question, can you clarify to whom you were referring.

I can guess, but I'd rather see you actually say it.

[sidicks]

BigMon said:

sidicks said:

Who are the "plenty of people for whom yesterday there wasn't 10 pence" ?

Rather than answering a question with a question, can you clarify to whom you were referring.

I can guess, but I'd rather see you actually say it.

Probably the same people that you were referring to.

[bitchstewie]

sidicks said:

bhstewie said:

sidicks said:

Are these people that are already getting hundreds of pounds?

I'm not sure who "these people" is?

Who were you referring to when you commented on the "plenty of people for whom yesterday there wasn't 10 pence" ?

Homeless

Mentally Ill

Remploy

Take your pick as that's just a few example off the top of my head.

[BigMon]

sidicks said:

Probably the same people that you were referring to.

I wasn't referring to anyone. HTH.

I notice you still haven't answered the question.

[sidicks]

bhstewie said:

Homeless

Mentally Ill

Remploy

Take your pick as that's just a few example off the top of my head.

So it is people that do already get 'hundreds of pounds'?

Wasn't it Labour that started shutting down Remploy factories and a Coalition study that suggested that each of the 2,800 Remploy factory workers was subsidised by an average £25,000 a year that could be better spent.

[gooner1]

BigMon said:

sidicks said:

Who are the "plenty of people for whom yesterday there wasn't 10 pence" ?

Rather than answering a question with a question, can you clarify to whom you were referring.

I can guess, but I'd rather see you actually say it.

Siddicks will not answer a straight question.
Well he might answer, but it won't be to the question asked.

Slippery as a vaselined otter.

[sidicks]

gooner1 said:

Siddicks will not answer a straight question.
Well he might answer, but it won't be to the question asked.

Slippery as a vaselined otter.

I've answered it.