Tories and DUP set to face legal challenge as deal wobbles

Theresa May’s Conservatives could be hit with a legal challenge over a proposed deal to govern with Northern Ireland’s DUP, according to reports that emerged as two sides struggled to seal a final agreement.

The Guardian reported on Tuesday that a legal team has prepared the challenge to the coalition on the grounds that it breaches the Good Friday Agreement, the key document in the peace process in NI.

Various commentators on both sides of the Irish Sea have called into question the impartiality of any government in which the DUP is present in relation to the ongoing peace process.

If the so-called “confidence and supply” agreement is challenged in the courts, judges would have to decide whether such a government would be unable to exercise “rigorous impartiality”.

KINGMAKER

Prime Minister Theresa May's party sought out the largest party in NI after they failed to win a parliamentary majority in the general election earlier this month, with the DUP being projected into the unlikely position of kingmaker with its crucial 10 MPs.

The case would follow a similar legal challenge to the successful one led by investment banker Gina Miller, who forced the government into gaining authorisation from the Commons to proceed with Brexit.

According to the newspaper, a legal team has found a lead claimant for the case and it will proceed as soon as the deal between the Tories and the DUP is formally announced.

Northern Ireland has been without a government since March after the DUP and Sinn Fein could not reach a power-sharing agreement following Assembly elections, with the latter refusing to enter Stormont with Arlene Foster as first minister.

LATE WOBBLES

After 10 days of discussions since the snap election the continued failure of the two parties to reach an agreement was already raising worries ahead of the all-important Queen's Speech to open parliament on Wednesday.

Furthermore, leaks from the DUP suggested the party felt its side of the deal not being given due attention by the Tories and questioning May's ability to lead.

Late on Tuesday afternoon, senior DUP sources warned the party could not be "taken for granted" and that the negotiations “haven’t proceeded the way we would have expected”, according to the BBC.

They added that if May could not reach a deal, "what does that mean for bigger negotiations she is involved in?".

However, while the two parties have not reached a final deal, DUP leader Arlene Foster previously said it would be "right and proper" that her party lend its 10 votes to support the government's first Queen's Speech.