Arlene Foster reveals she will meet Theresa May in London on Tuesday to sort out Tory-DUP deal

ARLENE Foster has revealed this morning she plans to fly to London on Tuesday to meet with Theresa May and sort out the Tory-DUP deal.

The unionist party’s leader told Sky News she plans to act in the national interest, saying: “We want to do what’s right for the whole of the UK.”

She said discussions were continuing with the Conservatives over the terms of a agreement, but appeared to suggest there was still work to do before Mrs May can be sure she has support of their 10 MPs and form a new Government.

Ms Foster said: “We had very good discussions yesterday with the Conservative party in relation to how we could support them in forming a national government  - one that would bring stability to the nation and those discussions continue.

“We’ve made good progress but the discussions continue.”

Asked if No10 had made a mistake in briefing that a deal had been struck had strengthened the DUP’s hand, she said: “I’m not going to negotiate over the airwaves.

“But what I will say is we will of course act in the national interest and do what is right for the national interest and do what is right for the United Kingdom as a whole and of course Northern Ireland in particular.”

Hitting out at Tory MPs who have warned against striking a deal with the DUP due to its controversial position on gay marriage, abortion and climate change, Ms Foster said: “There’s been a lot of hyperbole about the DUP since Thursday - a lot of things said, a lot of people who really don’t know what we stand for.

“But just to be clear, we will act in the national interest, we want to do what’s right for the whole of the UK and to bring stability to the government of the United Kingdom.”

• More to follow