THE DUP were in Downing Street yesterday, as Theresa May desperately tried to broker a deal that would allow her to cling on to power.

As the Prime Minister ignored the warnings of her predecessor John Major and entered into talks with the hard-right, socially conservative DUP, May’s Scottish secretary explicitly ruled out even talking to the SNP about a second referendum on Scottish independence.

David Mundell said indyref2 was “dead” and he would not “engage” with the Scottish Government over the vote, despite Holyrood backing calls for a section 30 order, the legislation needed to make a referendum legally binding.

As DUP leader Arlene Foster was welcomed into No 10, nothing appeared to be off the table.

There were scant details of what the Tory leader agreed to, or how many billions of pounds she promised to pump into Northern Ireland, but the DUP’s 10 MPs, eight of whom are reportedly Orangemen, were all smiles as they settled into their new parliamentary offices.

It is thought Foster, despite being a Brexit supporter, is mostly seeking assurances from May that the Government will pursue a softer exit from the EU, and therefore stop a hard border with Ireland.

She is almost certain to ask for greater investment in Northern Ireland as the price of a deal, and may have demands on maintaining the pensions triple-lock and the universal winter fuel allowance.

Proposals to grant a royal pardon to every member of the armed services stationed in Northern Ireland during the troubles, might be trickier for May to take on board.

Before the Downing Street meeting, Foster and her MPs had posed for photographs outside Westminster Hall.

A BBC camera picked up Foster calling out “The future’s bright”.

Standing beside her, Ian Paisley Jr chipped in “the future’s Orange”.

Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams was at the other side of the parliamentary estate with his seven MPs.

Despite rumours that the Irish nationalists were going to break with a century long habit of abstentionism, swear an oath to the Queen and take their seats in the Commons to topple the government, Sinn Féin insisted they were only in London for the House of Commons induction day and to sign up for office space, register for staff allowances and expenses.

A Sinn Féin spokesman said: “I can confirm that we will not be taking up our seats in Westminster. Sinn Féin stand in British general elections on an abstentionist platform.”

Sinn Féin are critical of the UK Government getting into bed with the DUP and have warned that it could damage the power-sharing talks in Northern Ireland.

The problem for May is that she needs DUP support to avoid the Queen’s Speech being voted down next week. Opposition MPs have said they will do just that.

The PM told the backbench 1922 Committee on Monday a deal with the DUP would not affect power-sharing talks in Northern Ireland or LGBT rights.

But Sir John Major, the Tory Prime Minister who worked on the Northern Ireland peace process in the 1990s warned May away from the deal for the sake of the province.

In a strongly-worded intervention, Major told BBC Radio 4’s World At One Programme: “People regard the peace process which was very hard earned over very many years by a lot of people, people shouldn’t regard it as a given, it isn’t certain, it is under stress, it is fragile.

“Although I don’t expect it suddenly to collapse, because there’s 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.”

He said he was “concerned” about the deal between the two parties, and saying he was “wary” and “dubious” about it “both for peace process reasons but also for others reasons as well”.

Major said he wanted May to “succeed” and “stay” as Prime Minister, and that he understood and sympathised with her wanting to “shore up her parliamentary position” but said his “main concern” was the peace process.

“A fundamental part of that peace process is that the UK Government needs to be impartial between all the competing interests in Northern Ireland.”

May’s difficulty, he added,was that by coming to a deal with the DUP, she stops the UK Government being the “honest broker” as talks continue on resuming power-sharing in Stormont.

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

Meanwhile, David Mundell told BuzzFeed News he would not engage with the Scottish Government on a second independence referendum.

“Indyref2 is dead because that’s the verdict of the people of Scotland,” he told the website.

“The only person who seems to be in denial about that is Nicola Sturgeon. She continues to treat the people of Scotland with contempt on that issue if she fails to listen to the verdict given last week. People sent a very clear message, they don’t want another independence referendum in the foreseeable future, and Nicola Sturgeon should respect that view.”

Mundell added: “This UK Government will be doing nothing to facilitate that referendum or indeed enter into discussions. My door is open to discuss anything and to work closely with the Scottish Government on Brexit but the one thing I will not engage on is a second independence referendum.”

Asked if that would remain the case for the entire duration of the parliament, Mundell said: “We were very clear in our manifesto that it wasn’t possible to have a referendum fairly until the Brexit process has played out and I certainly don’t see that having played out within the five years of this parliament.”

The First Minister and her cabinet met yesterday, and discussed the impact of the General Election.

A spokesman said they had agreed there could now be “a substantial opportunity for alternatives to a hard Brexit” following the Tory’s failure to win an overall majority.

But when asked if the cabinet had considered the impact of the election on its referendum plans, after the SNP lost 21 Commons seats, the spokesman said: “There was no discussion, no.”

“There was a discussion of the outcome of the election in relation to Brexit, but no specific discussion of a referendum.”

Her spokesman insisted he was “not going to pre-empt the First Minister” on the issue.

He told journalists at a Holyrood briefing: “I’m not going to outline any position on independence or a referendum because it’s for the First Minister to do that, and she has indicated she will do that in due course.”

“The fact remains the SNP won a majority of seats in Scotland, Theresa May and the Conservatives did not win a majority of seats in the UK, so there is a difference, there is a distinction to be drawn there.”

He added: “Our position is that a continued place in the single market, that is paramount.”

Asked if this could be up for discussion, he said: “I think anything short of that immediately takes you into hard Brexit territory.

“It can be dressed up any number of fancy ways, and given other descriptions or name-tags, but if you are outside the single market effectively where you are heading is what is commonly known as a hard Brexit, with all that that entails.”