DUP hopeful of deal on Conservative government 'soon'

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Arlene Foster on Tuesday said she hoped to conclude a deal "soon" on supporting British Prime Minister Theresa May's minority government.

After meeting May in Downing Street, Arlene Foster said discussions were "going well" and she hoped for a "successful conclusion", the BBC reported. There are "no outstanding issues" in the way of a deal, the report said. But former Conservative Prime Minister John Major said he was "dubious" about a deal and its impact on the peace process.

He said there was a danger the government will not look "impartial" if it is "locked into a parliamentary deal" with the Northern Irish Party.

"People shouldn't regard it as a given. It's not certain, it's under stress, it's fragile," Major said. He urged Theresa May to consider governing on her own, saying this would not "carry the baggage" for the Conservatives that an arrangement with the DUP would, the Independent reported.

Major suggested that the DUP would be asking for money and that would be seen as the "government paying cash for votes in Parliament", and would be received badly in other parts of the UK.

May and Foster met for more than an hour, but the PM said nothing as she left for the Commons where MPs returned and re-elected John Bercow as Speaker unopposed.

Addressing a packed House, May urged MPs to "come together in a spirit of national unity" to tackle the challenges facing the UK, urging them to help the country overcome divisions between "old and young and rich and poor". May, who ahead of the June referendum supported remaining in the EU, has promised to start the Brexit talks next week but opponents of a sharp break with the EU took her woes as a chance to push back against her strategy.

Before the election, May proposed a clean break from the EU, involving withdrawal from Europe's single market, limits on immigration and a bespoke customs deal

with the EU.

Brexit minister David Davis has insisted the approach to the EU divorce had not changed, but at the meeting with lawmakers on Monday, May recognised that a broader consensus needed to be built for Brexit and made clear she would listen to all wings of the party on the issue.