The DUP has said problems have arisen in its discussions with the Tories over the Northern Irish party’s 10 MPs supporting a minority Conservative government.
Senior DUP sources said on Tuesday that the negotiations “haven’t proceeded the way we would have expected”.
They added that the DUP “can’t be taken for granted” in the ongoing discussions with the Conservatives.
The development came the day before the Queen’s speech, and threatens to leave Theresa May uncertain of her ability to secure a Commons majority for her government’s legislative programme for the coming two years.
The Tories want a “confidence and supply” arrangement with the DUP that would guarantee them its support in confidence motions and key budget votes.
They can probably survive without a deal, because they still outnumber the opposition parties and the DUP would not vote against them in a division that could lead to Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister. But passing legislation without a deal would be much harder.
The DUP is urging the government to give “greater focus” to the negotiations. And in Belfast, other DUP sources said “backbiting from Tory backbenchers” had stiffened their resolve to “dig in”.
Despite the concerns, the same DUP sources said later that a substantive deal to support a Conservative administration could still finalised by Thursday, before May is due to be in Brussels for a meeting of the EU council.
They said at least 90% of the confidence and supply deal had been agreed but the DUP appeared to be digging in on some issues as the abolition of air passenger duty. There are fears within the Conservatives that abolishing or dramatically cutting the tax just for Northern Ireland’s two airports would trigger demands in Scotland, Wales and the English regions for a similar measure in their areas.
