SCOTLAND will fail to secure extra cash from any deal between the Conservative government and DUP after sources scotched rumours of a windfall through the so-called 'Barnett consequentials'.
Tory sources have poured cold water speculation that any agreement would deliver additional money for Scotland and Wales via the mechanism used by the Treasury to automatically adjust the amounts of public expenditure allocated to the devolved nations.
A source said that the Tories and the DUP talks had been progressing well and that the two parties had already agreed the importance of implementing Brexit, combatting terrorism and delivering prosperity "across the UK".
Pressure to come to an agreement has been ramped up by Theresa May who announced that the Queen's Speech, in which she will set out her programme for government, will go ahead on Wednesday with Brexit negotiations set to begin two day earlier.
A Tory source said the Queen's Speech would take place even if an agreement with the Northern Ireland party had yet to be finalised.
Last night the SNP insisted that Scotland should not be excluded from the windfall of any deal.
Kirsty Blackman, the SNP's deputy leader at Westminster, said: “Any attempt to short-change Scotland will not be acceptable to SNP MPs or the Scottish Government.
“This kind of pork barrel politics is a new low for Westminster.
“Funding across the UK is supposed to be determined by the Barnett formula, and we cannot have the funding formula ripped up in order to dish out large chunks of cash to Northern Ireland, in a grubby deal with the DUP, without fair treatment across the board.
“At the same time suggestions that a corporation tax cut would be under written for Northern Ireland, while Scotland and Wales bear full responsibility for our tax decisions, would be out of order given the responsibility other parliaments rightly take.
“We need full transparency on the DUP deal. SNP MPs will fight for Scotland to get every penny that we are entitled to, it will be a test of other MPs from Scotland if they have the guts to do the same."
After last week's disastrous General Election result, Mrs May needs the votes of the 10 DUP MPs to command a majority in the Commons.
The two parties are locked in talks over a 'confidence and supply' agreement, in which the smaller party agrees not to bring down a government and to back the Budget in return for concessions.
Crucially, however, it leaves all other votes to be agreed on a case-by-case basis, potentially giving the minor party a disproportionate degree of influence.
The deal is expected to include greatly increased infrastructure spending for Northern Ireland, where the DUP was under intense pressure over the implementation of welfare cuts before the Northern Ireland executive collapsed earlier this year.
A senior Conservative source said a "broad agreement on the principles of the Queen's Speech" had been reached between the two parties.
"Both parties are committed to strengthening the union, combating terrorism, delivering Brexit and delivering prosperity across the whole of the country," the source said.
"However, while talks are ongoing it is important that the Government gets on with its business and we are confident there will be sufficient support across the House for passing a Queen's Speech."
Mrs May is expected to bring forward a heavily watered down programme for Government after losing her Commons majority in the general election.
Brexit Secretary David Davis has admitted that parts of his party's manifesto have had to be “pruned away” because they could not command support from the Commons.
Mrs May's flagship proposals for new grammar schools in England are among the plans understood to have been jettisoned.
Sinn Fein have warned that any deal with the DUP could wreck the Northern Ireland peace process in a comment echoed by former Northern Ireland secretary Lord Hain who has accused the Conservatives of "putting party before peace".
Lord Hain, who was Northern Ireland secretary from 2005 to 2007, warned that the situation is "very damaging" at a time when sensitive talks are under way over the restoration of powersharing at Stormont.
He added that the Government could not act as a "neutral facilitator" in Northern Ireland, as the Good Friday Agreement envisages, if it was dependent on one of the Northern Irish parties for its majority in the House of Commons.
"I cannot see for the life of me how you can be a neutral facilitator in bringing the parties together, at a very dangerous time for Northern Ireland politics to get self-government and the legislative assembly back up and running, when your prime ministerial life and your Government's life depends on one of the most influential parties - the biggest party - in Northern Ireland," said Lord Hain.
"I just don't see how that works. I think it's a very damaging situation."
He added: "It corrodes confidence in the negotiating process."
The Prime Minister has held separate meetings representatives of Sinn Fein, the Ulster Unionists, the SDLP and the Alliance Party, as well as the DUP's deputy leader Nigel Dodds.
After he left No 10 Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams said that his party had warned Mrs May "very directly" she would be "in breach of the Good Friday agreement".
But he added that Sinn Fein would support any additional money going to the Northern Ireland Executive as a result of a deal.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel