The DUP - an introduction to the Northern Irish Party that hold the balance of power

Oh no you don't. (original post)

I will say to start, as a voter in the constituency of North Antrim I voted DUP and Ian Paisley Junior, who I believe is by far the most tolerable member of the party and actually a relatively good MP. I will give my thoughts and as a supporter who is often sceptical of the party. I don't think it will take Reddit very long to provide an opposition to my views and the views of the party and as such, reasonable conversation (something none of the NI parties are capable of) should come after. With 10 seats they hold the balance of power, partly in thanks to the 7 votes to Sinn Fein who pledge not to take their seats (I think this election has proved the problem with this argument, but I understand the other sides arguments). During the past Northern Irish Assembly Election I did not vote for DUP much due to their corruption over the RHI scandal which will reportedly cost 500 million over the course of the next 20 years (there is some speculation from unionists that this figure is exaggerated, unfortunately it is not). The DUP in general are rather very 'traditional' views such as rejection of Gay Marriage and Abortion in NI. It is my view that they are not interested in changing any legislation of the GB mainland, but are going to leverage their position to gain benefits for themselves. Some people are mentioning how Arlene Foster, the leader of the DUP may be up for deputy PM. There are 2 main problems with this. Arlene Foster is the Stormont leader and so is not as involved in Westminster, the leader of that side is Nigel Dodds. The other problem is the idea that the DUP don't want positions of power, but simply change to the situation and the latter is more important.

The main argument, and surprisingly a positive for left-wing supporters, is that they will want a soft-brexit to secure the freedom of borders between the Republic and the Border, which at the minute is seemless (there's absolutely no trouble, you realise you're in the South when the signs change to km/h) and they will want to keep it this way to ensure relations between the South. Other than this I don't think they will require much else, other than general investment into infrastructure and I remember there being some mention of VAT removed from tourism (someone correct me?!). I actually don't believe that it leaves Westminster in shattering position for Brexit, although much weaker than expected, and the proposition of a soft Brexit, will be more attractive to many of the other MPs.

Overall it's a strange situation, as a remainer I'm quite happy, but I'm unsure if the DUP can be responsible with this sort of power. The pundits seem to think that they will successful in taking away the best possible deal from the coalition that I believe will happen (I never know whether to believe this guys though they predicted most of this wrong).

I look forward to you telling me how wrong I am and for more information I recommend the r/northenireland thread! (Most of them aren't as optimistic as I am)

/r/unitedkingdom Thread