This Is How Theresa May's Conservatives Want To Run The Country With The DUP

Theresa May's Conservative government will be propped up in parliament by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), it was confirmed on Saturday evening.

The Conservatives have come to a "confidence and supply" arrangement with the controversial Northern Irish party, who won 10 seats in Thursday's general election - enough to help May's government overcome the hung parliament.

Their arrangement is less tight-knit than a full coalition government, but will see the DUP support May's party in key votes such as the budget.

A spokesperson for 10 Downing Street said: "We welcome this commitment, which can provide the stability and certainty the whole country requires as we embark on Brexit and beyond." The BBC reports that further details of the "confidence and supply" arrangement will be discussed at a Cabinet meeting on Monday morning.

Any voter with even reasonably liberal values is right to be concerned about the Conservatives' arrangement with the DUP, even if it stops short of a full coalition. The Northern Irish party holds or has demonstrated views on abortion, LGBT rights, and climate change that are genuinely abhorrent to many of us. And because May needs their 10 MPs to form a viable government, the balance of power appears to lie in the DUP's favour as they hammer out the exact terms of their deal.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday, a Conservative former Northern Ireland secretary, Owen Paterson, insisted that LGBT rights could not be affected by any deal with the DUP. However, he admitted that our current abortion law could be threatened, at least, by pressure from the super socially-conservative party ."You might get a debate I suppose on further reduction of abortion times as medical science advances," he is quoted by The Independent as saying. Last year, DUP leader Arlene Foster said: "I would not want abortion [in Northern Ireland] to be as freely available as it is in England."

Indeed, a Change.org petition titled "Stop the DUP & TORIES forming a Minority Government!" has already amassed more than 600,000 signatures. The petition argues that May should resign after she failed to win a majority in Thursday's general election, and calls her deal with the DUP a "disgusting, desperate attempt to stay in power."