Theresa May agrees deal with DUP to form minority government
2 min read
Theresa May has agreed a deal with the DUP which will see her continue as Prime Minister.
The agreement stops short of a formal coalition, but will ensure that the Conservatives have a Commons majority to get through a Queen's Speech and Budget.
Details of the arrangement are not yet known, but it is thought the DUP will seek extra funding for Northern Ireland and an assurance that Mrs May will pursue a hard Brexit.
Mrs May will ask the Queen's permission to form a government at Buckingham Palace at 12.30, after which she will set out her plans in a statement outside 10 Downing Street.
The Prime Minister has been under massive pressure from Tory MPs since the party lost its majority in yesterday's general election.
With one result still to be announced, the Conservatives are on 318 seats - 12 fewer than they had when the election was called and eight short of the number needed for a majority.
Labour are on 261, the SNP 35 and the Lib Dems 12.
But it's the DUP's 10 MPs which have proved crucial and given Mrs May the numbers she needs to return to Downing Street.
On senior Conservative source told PoliticsHome: "It's not the result we wanted, but we have to make it work."
DUP leader Arlene Foster said last night that the Prime Minister may have to stand down in light of the election result.
Asked whether she would survive, she told BBC Radio Ulster: “I don’t know. I think that it will be difficult for her to survive, given that she was presumed at the start of the campaign – which seems an awfully long time ago now – to come back with over 100, maybe more, in terms of her majority.
“And now we’re in the position we find ourselves in tonight, so it will be an incredibly difficult evening for her.”
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