Holding the Balance of Power
So, as expected, the DUP voted for 42 days. When they arrived at Belfast City Airport today they again denied cutting a side deal. But let's just see how things pan out in the next few weeks and months. To quote Sammy Wilson from the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's Evening Extra, "we have doen the right thing by the people of the UK and we'll be reminding the government of that in the future".
The Ulster Unionists, meanwhile, have obviously been getting withdrawal symptoms, missing the old days of constant internal division. This can be the only explanation for the party's only MP, Sylvia Hermon, voting for 42 days, whilst three of her colleagues in the Upper House, Lords Maginnis, Rogan and Laird, have pledged their support to the former Conservative Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Secretary David Davis in his Yorkshire by-election, called specifically to oppose the proposal.
The three UUP peers compare what they call "the highly principled stand of Mr Davis" to the similar action taken by 15 unionist MPs when they resigned their seats in the Commons in protest against the Anglo Irish Agreement. Of course, those with long memories will remember that 15 unionists fought the by-elections, but only 14 survived them, with the SDLP's Seamus Mallon taking Newry and Armagh from the Ulster Unionist Jim Nicholson.
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