Theresa May has been warned by Sir John Major that striking a deal with the Democratic Unionist party could put the “fragile peace” in Northern Ireland at risk.

The former Conservative prime minister said a deal with Arlene Foster’s party could risk alienating armed republicans and loyalists, and cause resentment in other parts of the UK if the government made promises to spend large amounts of public money.

The intervention by Major, who also called for a more collegiate approach to Brexit, came as May held talks with Foster. It will be seen as deeply unsettling for the prime minister.



On Tuesday afternoon, Foster indicated a deal to support the Conservative minority government was close to being finalised.

She also gave a glimpse into the issues upon the table, saying Brexit, counter-terrorism and “doing what’s right” for the Northern Ireland economy were among the key issues being thrashed out.

Discussions in Westminster continued without May after she left for Paris for a meeting with the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

Discussions are going well with the government and we hope soon to be able to bring this work to a successful conclusion. — Arlene Foster (@DUPleader) June 13, 2017

Major told BBC Radio 4’s the World at One that he felt May should try to run a minority government rather than seek the planned loose alliance with the DUP.



“I am concerned about the deal, I am wary about it, I am dubious about it, both for peace process reasons but also for other reasons as well,” he said, warning that if peace unravelled, Northern Ireland’s “hard men” could return to violence.



Major, who as prime minister was central to the start of the peace process in the 1990s, said an alliance with the DUP would jeopardise the UK government’s crucial role as an “honest broker” in Northern Ireland where power-sharing talks remain unresolved.

“People shouldn’t regard it as a given,” he said of peace in Northern Ireland. “It isn’t certain, it is under stress. It is fragile. And although I don’t expect it suddenly to collapse – because there is a broad consensus that wishes it to continue – I think we have to take care with it, and take care that everything we do does not exaggerate the underlying differences that still are there in the Northern Ireland community.”

Saying he supported May and could understand why she sought the DUP deal, Major argued it was a mistake.

“A fundamental part of that peace process is that the UK government needs to be impartial between all the competing interests in Northern Ireland,” he said. “The danger is that however much any government tries, they will not be seen to be impartial if they are locked into a parliamentary deal, at Westminster, with one of the Northern Ireland parties.

“The last thing anybody wishes to see is one or other of the communities so aggrieved that the hard men, who are still there lurking in the corners of the community, decide that they wish to return to some form of violence.”



Major also warned against the “baggage” of a deal, not least the DUP seeking extra funding for Northern Ireland, and the potential resentment this could cause among voters in other parts of the UK.

“That is going to cause a great degree of grievance elsewhere,” he warned. “They would see it as the government paying cash for votes in parliament, and in doing so I think that could well cost votes in the country for the Conservative party, by the bucketload, at a subsequent election.”

Major said he was aware there was no appetite for another general election, and suggested May could seek to govern as a minority, noting that her opponents would only have “a tiny majority in the event that everybody lined up against her”.



The talks followed the first meeting of May’s slightly reshuffled cabinet since the election in which she lost her majority.

Foster, alongside MPs Jeffrey Donaldson and Nigel Dodds, has led negotiations for the DUP, while chief whip Gavin Williamson has led for the Tories.

A failure to gain support from the Northern Irish party would risk the Queen’s speech being voted down next week.

Sinn Féin has warned such moves undermine power-sharing talks in Northern Ireland.

Lord Trimble, the former Ulster Unionist first minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002, said the DUP were also putting their political future at risk by striking a deal because they could be blamed for unpopular Tory policies.



However, he denies Major’s claims that the Good Friday agreement was at risk, saying: “I think there is a fair amount of scaremongering going on.”

In the Commons, Jeremy Corbyn turned May’s election slogan against her, saying that any deal with the DUP would be a “coalition of chaos”.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said ministers “discussed the ongoing talks with the DUP to secure a confidence and supply arrangement”.

