back to article Northern Ireland bags £150m for broadband pipes in £1bn Tory bribe

The Democratic Unionist Party is to receive an extra £1bn in funding from Brit taxpayers, including £150m to spend on broadband infrastructure, after it agreed to prop up Theresa May's minority government. The recent UK election resulted in a hung Parliament, meaning the May's Tory Party needed to do a deal to beef up its …

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  1. Caustic Soda

    The DUP isn't getting a penny. It is the Northern Ireland government which is getting the money, a government which has been a power-sharing arrangement for many years. In fact the whole promise of money for NI is conditional on a power-sharing arrangement being confirmed within a short timescale.

    If you're going to dabble in politics, please get the details right.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You are entirely correct however the DUP is getting voter currency in that by securing a deal like this they will be nearly guaranteed to get re-elected to feed from the political trough.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        they will be nearly guaranteed to get re-elected

        The DUP took almost all the pro-union seats last time because they were seen as the best bulwark against Sinn Fein, and the nationalist seats still wouldn't vote DUP if they were promised a leprechaun with pot of gold in every garden. This will not make any difference to re-election in NI, politics there is not normal and doesn't work like that.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        >You are entirely correct however the DUP is getting voter currency in that by securing a deal like this they will be nearly guaranteed to get re-elected to feed from the political trough.

        Welcome to politics, it's a dirty business. If you thought it was all pretty flowers and chivalry then look away now as you won't like what you see.

      3. Christopher Rogers

        LOL@ voter currency

        You are suggesting policy and performance dictate how people vote in NI

        The DUP will be reelected. Even after the numerous scandals, stances towards parts of our community, courting of terrorists (of all types) etc etc etc.

    2. Dan 55 Silver badge

      They'll just set up the rules on how money is distributed and distribute it to themselves. See the renewable heat incentive scandal.

      1. Wandering Reader

        "They'll just set up the rules on how money is distributed and distribute it to themselves. See the renewable heat incentive scandal."<br>

        The RHI money went all over the place - the rules weren't discriminatory, just stupid:

        http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/new-sinn-fin-leader-linked-to-cash-for-ash-35404781.html

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Meh

      How Ruth Davidson...

      ...must be regretting that the Scottish Conservative Party is just a wing of the UK's Conservative and Unionist Party. She isn't even getting a bent farthing for Scotland in return for her party's support, whilst Arlene Foster walks off with a billion quid for Northern Ireland with, presumably, more to follow each time the Government has another sticky vote outside of the deal to win.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: How Ruth Davidson...

        "She isn't even getting a bent farthing for Scotland in return for her party's support"

        Whilst your logic is good, I would add a footnote that the Scots have no reason to whine (well, other than their congenital miserable bastardry) since they do very well out of the Barnett formula, with public spending per head almost 20% higher than England.

    4. Pen-y-gors

      True, the bribe is for the NI government, currently inactive due to A Foster not feeling that it is necessary or normal for her to temporarily step down as First Minister while her role in pissing half a billion NI quids down the drain on her dodgy heating incentive scheme is investigated.

      If the Tories were even vaguely honourable (stop sniggering at the back there) they'd pay the bribe out of Party funds, not our pockets.

      1. enormous c word

        Buying votes...

        The Tory's have bought DUP votes in the commons, Corbyn bought votes from the electorate. It's all just a bunch of false promises and bribes dressed up as politics...

    5. Dwarf

      If you're going to dabble in politics, please get the details right.

      That's the first time I've seen the words "getting the details right" and "politics" in the same sentence

    6. This post has been deleted by its author

    7. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      didnt think there was a NI Gov at present

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The magic money tree does exist.

    Step 2. Make an unpalatable alliance giving away 1 billion. (Scotland and Wales will rightly be miffed at this)

    Step 3. Have a leadership contest and an election.

    Step 4. Lose the election.

    Step 5. Referendum on Brexit by labour so everyone votes the right way this time (see Ireland as a point)

    I've seen some self exploding political moves in my time but this current government is excelling any expectations.

    I do ask one question and that is what could 1 billion get you if spent in other areas of government? More police, firemen, nurses but no lets spend it in northern Ireland on infrastructure.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Step 0 (or was it -1?). Get half a million from some (possibly Saudi) donor to campaign in London (where you have no seats) to Brexit, even though you have no MPs sitting in London. Oh, and we don't have to declare donor because of local rules (against paramilitary reprisals for political donations)

      PS the ads in the Metro only cost around half of what they got in donations. Plenty still in the war chest, with more to come :)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        http://private-eye.co.uk/hp-sauce

  3. Martin
    FAIL

    Of course, if I were bribed for my vote, it would be considered to be illegal.

    But bribing the DUP for their vote - well, that's just politics.

    1. codejunky Silver badge

      @ Martin

      "Of course, if I were bribed for my vote, it would be considered to be illegal."

      No it isnt. Governments bribe you every election with promises of how they will spend other peoples money on you. Every election is based on 'whats in it for me' mentality with bribes for the young, old, working class, middle class, pensioners, etc.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: @ Martin

        "Governments bribe you every election with promises of how they will spend other peoples money on you. "

        The difference is that General Election promises are rarely kept - and they have 5 years of freedom to do whatever they actually want. The DUP deal would stop immediately if the Tories didn't pay up promptly or reneged on anything. The DUP have the Government over a barrel*** - at least a pork barrel.

        ***"It is a nautical term, which derives from the practice of hanging a drowned, usually unconscious person over a barrel to clear their lungs of water. The fate of the "patient" was determined solely by the actions of those administering the treatment. In other words, he was at their mercy.

        However in his novel "Bare Nell" Leslie Thomas made it an unstable position for a drunken sailor's intended sexual victim.

        1. Nifty Silver badge

          Re: @ Martin

          Pork barrel politics - a nautical term?

          Are you sure?

          Wikipedia indicates it's an American expression:

          "...phrase originated in a pre-Civil War practice of giving slaves a barrel of salt pork as a reward and requiring them to compete among themselves to get their share of the handout"

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: @ Martin

            "Pork barrel politics - a nautical term?"

            I was juxtaposing two metaphors - the nautical "over the barrel" for the Government's vulnerable position - and the non-nautical "pork barrel" for the DUP tactic of extracting financial gain in return for support of a bill.

          2. hplasm
            Headmaster

            Re: @ Martin

            Over a barrel, pork barrel politics- two sentences...

        2. Nolveys
          Happy

          Re: @ Martin

          @AC

          (over a barrel) is a nautical term, which derives from the practice of hanging a drowned, usually unconscious person over a barrel to clear their lungs of water. The fate of the "patient" was determined solely by the actions of those administering the treatment. In other words, he was at their mercy.

          Thanks, that was informative. As most of the people here are taxpayers you should also explain the term "in the barrel".

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: @ Martin

            "As most of the people here are taxpayers you should also explain the term "in the barrel"."

            I only know one use of that expression - in a joke where the punchline goes:

            Q. Wonderful! ...and what about Friday night?

            A. That's your turn in the barrel

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: @ Martin

        Every election is based on 'whats in it for me' mentality with bribes for the young, old, working class, middle class, pensioners, etc.

        And in this last election, I'd hazard a guess that May's idiotic pronouncements of a dementia tax (1) lost her a good chunk of the older and even middle age vote. Which shows how it IS about bribes. Pensioners want their "triple lock" in a system they never actually paid enough for, they want their bus passes, their free TV licences, their winter fuel bribes, and the wealthier ones want everybody else to pay for their social care so that they can leave their assets to their kids. I know some very wealthy pensioners, enjoying an extremely generous public sector pension (more than I earn), and they still talk about "taking what they're entitled to".

        Note 1: The "dementia tax" proposals were actually very reasonable in a system that doesn't have the resources to pay for social care for all. Why should the rest of us pay for the asset-rich to get social care just so they can leave those assets to their sprogs? But those likely to be affected were traditional core Tory voters. Turkeys don't vote for Christmas, so this was an own goal of epic proportions.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: @ Martin

          "Turkeys don't vote for Christmas, [...]"

          Apparently the same demographic voted for BREXIT.

        2. Pen-y-gors

          Re: @ Martin

          @AC

          Note 1: The "dementia tax" proposals were actually very reasonable

          Depends what side you're coming from. As a society we have accepted for the last seventy years that health care is available to all, free at the point of delivery. It's frayed a bit at the edges with prescription charges etc, but the principle is still there. Rich buggers (the asset rich) have as much right to a free visit to the GP, or to open heart surgery, as the homeless, penniless SAS soldier sitting in the gutter with a bottle of cheap sherry. They may chose to pay to go private, but they have the same rights. Is dementia an illness? If people need residential care because of dementia or any other infirmity, isn't that a form of health treatment, albeit without scalpels and machines that go ping? Shouldn't the costs of paying for that therefore be shared equally, as we do for treating cancer?

          Granted, the present system doesn't have enough income to pay for all this. So the issue is how to raise the money so everyone can be fairly treated. Perhaps an increase in death duties for everyone (and including the value of a family home) would be the way to go.

          1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

            Re: @ Martin

            so everyone can be fairly treated.

            You're confusing "fair" with "equal", they are not the same.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Happy

          Re: @ Martin

          Why should the rest of us pay for the asset-rich to get social care just so they can leave those assets to their sprogs?

          Especially when the whole Austerity thing is just a mechanism whereby the rest of us get penalised to pay for bailing the banks' bad debts out, i.e. ensuring that the asset-rich, whose money the banks were lending, didn't lose anything.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: @ Martin

            @Smooth Newt

            Our Austerity measures don't amount to as much as you imagine. What they do do is induce economic confidence and hence reduce our cost of borrowing. By keeping interest payments down this saves vastly more money than the austerity measures themselves. If we dropped austerity and spent more the effective cost would be exponential. Exponential spending is not sustainable for very long.

            As for bailing out the banks that was largely a short term thing most of which have turned out to make money eventually.

            http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN05748#fullreport

            As you can see from the report the bad bit is RBS that is still some £23bn down from what it cost to buy and doubtful if it will ever regain enough to make it a profitable investment. However RBS was not where the asset rich chose to invest: personally I use RBS as my mortgage provider.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Meh

              Re: @ Martin

              Our Austerity measures don't amount to as much as you imagine. What they do do is induce economic confidence and hence reduce our cost of borrowing. By keeping interest payments down this saves vastly more money than the austerity measures themselves.

              What they do is screw the economy and prevent growth. You can't cut your way to prosperity by being economically stagnant, as the results of this have sadly shown over the last decade. The idea that real-world consumers who are terrified of losing their jobs in the midst of a policy-induced recession will somehow become "economically confident" and so spend money and lift the economy out of recession is nonsense. See e.g. Mark Blyth, Professor of Political Economics at Brown University, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go2bVGi0ReE

              1. Terry 6 Silver badge

                Re: @ Martin

                A lot of the "Austerity" model seems to come not from economics, but a mixture of pure politics and folksy pseudo-economics. The former is to appeal to the section of the Tory Party and their friends the press owners, who don't like the government providing stuff, like libraries, schooling, the NHS, that can be commoditised and sold. The latter is to appeal to Tory voters is a the view that a national economy is just like running a household budget, repairing roofs when the sun is shining, not having too much on the credit card etc.

        4. enormous c word

          Re: @ Martin

          If you have elderly relatives (with dementia) in social care - you should read this....

          The so-called Dementia Tax is a complete fallacy. Previously under many years of Labour, then under Cameron, they could take everything except the last £23,250 for residential care or about half of your last £14,250 - £23,250.

          Then under May's Tory govt that was increased from £23,250 to £100,000 - whichever way you spin it, that is a good thing. Average cost for elderly residential care is about £100,000 which would take the average family about 125 years to save for. May's govt has effectively set realistic limits on the costs that can be taken, costs that are reasonable, but also affordable.

          What most people don't realise is that it is incumbent upon the government (ie taxpayer) to foot the bill for care for someone who is effectively mentally disabled through dementia. Many, many 1000's of families paid for residential care through savings or the sale of the sufferers family home - and it was completely illegal - hundreds of millions have been repaid to families (but it isn't widely reported - surprise, surprise).

          Reclaiming the money is a form-filling formality (really not difficult), the NHS will appoint a professionally qualified Needs Assessor (usually a qualified psychiatric nurse) to reviw the case and present to an assessment panel. You can go to one of the specalist legal firms that offer this form filling service - they'll charge you £1000's for doing absolutely nothing of value (because they only lodge the appeal - the Needs Assessor writes the report. Typical claims have been for £60,000 but successful six-figure claims have been common too.

          There was a deadline for lodging the appeal in about 2014 (during Camerons govt) after which no more appeals would be recognised - but the precendent has been set. May's govt has re-set a limit from £23,250 to £100,000 which is much more sensible; fairer sustainable and manageable. Why are people complaining about it?

      3. John Smith 19 Gold badge
        Unhappy

        "with bribes for the young, old, working class, middle class, pensioners, etc."

        Excluding the young.

        They stopped voting in the UK so f**k em.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "with bribes for the young, old, working class, middle class, pensioners, etc."

          The young didn't stop voting. They came out and voted for PM (next week) Corbyn. He was amongst lots of young supprters/fans/cannon fodder at Glastonbury. Apparently drew more fans than Coldplay

          1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
            Unhappy

            "They came out and voted for PM (next week) Corbyn. "

            For the first time in a long while in large numbers.

            I'd suggest that had a big effect on turning the Conservative expectation of an 80-100 seat majority (and the destruction of Labour as an a viable opposition for a generation) and helping to turn a 17 seat absolute majority into her getting into bed with Arlene Foster and the other DUPes.

        2. John Smith 19 Gold badge
          Unhappy

          Excluding the young. They stopped voting in the UK so f**k em.

          That's what the politicians thought.

          And UK politicians have been able to get away with it for quite some time.

        3. Alan Brown Silver badge

          Re: "with bribes for the young, old, working class, middle class, pensioners, etc."

          "They stopped voting in the UK so f**k em."

          I'm surprised at the downvotes. This pretty much sums up the mentality of most established politicians in Westminster.

          1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
            Unhappy

            "This pretty much sums up the mentality of most established politicians in Westminster."

            That was my point. It's the politicians view, not my view.

            Once a group stops voting in significant numbers politicians can safely stamp "Ignore" on that whole section of the population. Put bluntly "You don't get us elected, so why should be helpful to you?"

            Whatever country I'm in I come election time I always encourage everyone to vote.

    2. Adrian 4

      But this is being paid for by the conservative party, not our taxes. That would be illegal.

      Wouldn't it ?

  4. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

    Details

    There is a breakdown at:

    http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/dup-tory-deal-new-1bn-allocation-breakdown-where-will-the-money-go-in-northern-ireland-35866269.html

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    £1bn might seem a lot, but over 2+ years for 1.8m people it's only £250/head per year.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Potatoes are £1.50 for 2.5kg so that's 166 bags, more than enough to win over the electorate for years.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "Potatoes are £1.50 for 2.5kg so that's 166 bags, more than enough to win over the electorate for years."

        Pork is more expensive.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Racial slurp

          The "Irish people only eat potatos" slur only applies to Southern Irish catholics, so is not really applicable to the NI extreme protestant (DUP). Admittedly racial hatred is not normally associated with high sophistication or intellect but you could at least try to have a clue.

          I always thought it was ironic that in the UK that you are allowed Irish jokes and only stopped putting "no Irish" on boarding houses in the '70 and yet doing the same to black, asians, jews etc is a hate crime.

          This payout is a bribe to the DUP to keep the tories in power, ironic that "tory" is an irish word meaning thief/bandit/bogtrotter.

          That the money is coming from the tax payer shows that the name is justified

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Racial slurp

            potatoes ... not really applicable to the NI extreme protestant (DUP).

            Nope. The traditional demand of Unionists is Cheddar Cheese and Pineapple on a Stick. Allegedly.

          2. phuzz Silver badge
            Trollface

            Re: Racial slurp

            "The "Irish people only eat potatos" slur only applies to Southern Irish catholics"

            Which is why the other ones get so annoyed when they're all tarred with the same brush, making it an even more effective insult. As is reminding them that "it's all basically the same country anyway".

            1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

              Re: Racial slurp

              >The "Irish people only eat potatos" slur only applies to Southern Irish catholics"

              Is gravy-chip still the height of N Ireland cuisine ?

    2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      >for 1.8m people it's only £250/head per year.

      Although I suspect it might be targeted at roughly half off the heads.

      I'm guessing that not a lot of this infrastructure spend is going to the Falls Rd

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