DUP talks not going as expected - Sky sources
With less than 24 hours to go before the Queen's Speech, a deal to prop up Theresa May's minority Government remains elusive.
Tuesday 20 June 2017 22:30, UK
Talks between the DUP and the Government "haven't proceeded in a way that DUP would have expected", sources have told Sky News.
The sources say Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party is urging the Government to give "greater focus" to the negotiations and that the "party can't be taken for granted".
A day before setting out her legislative measures in the Queen's Speech, Theresa May has yet to secure a deal with the DUP. Her Government programme goes to a Commons vote next week.
A spokesperson for Number 10 has said talks are continuing. They did not comment about when they expect a deal, if any, to be sealed.
The talks have been ongoing since the Conservatives failed to win an outright parliamentary majority in the disastrous General Election on 8 June.
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But a deal remains elusive.
Adding to the complications is the wider politics of Northern Ireland and the Government's attempts to restore the power-sharing executive at Stormont.
The Government has rejected suggestions that its commitment to act with impartiality in Northern Ireland - as set out in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement - would be undermined by a deal with the DUP.
Mrs May met with Irish premier Leo Varadkar on Tuesday, and spoke afterwards of the ongoing talks with the DUP.
"We are talking about a confidence-and-supply agreement with them," she said. "On reaching such an agreement we will make sure that the details of that are made public so that people can see exactly what that is based on.
"As a UK Government we remain absolutely steadfast in our commitment to the Belfast Agreement (and) its successor agreements."
Sky's Ireland correspondent David Blevins said: "The debacle we have been witnessing over the last 10 days is quite extraordinary.
"Twenty-four hours before the Queen's speech there is no agreement.
"Remember this began the morning after the General Election result when Theresa May stood outside Number 10 and said she was going to form a Government with the help of allies and friends - even though at that point the only commitment she had from the Democratic Unionists was that they would engage in a conversation."