Theresa May’s most suicidal Brexit miscalculation would be to think the DUP is bluffing
The PM cannot govern at all without the DUP and she must not try to just tough this one out
Don’t bluff DUP
OF all Theresa May’s Brexit miscalculations, her most suicidal would be to think the DUP is bluffing.
They want the Irish “backstop”, which weakens the Britain/Northern Ireland union, binned. Or they’ll collapse the Tory Government their votes prop up.
To the DUP the sanctity of the union is everything — far more fundamental even than keeping Corbyn, a notorious supporter of the IRA, and a united Ireland, out of Downing Street. Mrs May’s deal is an immediate threat.
Corbyn can be fought later, if he ever takes power. The Sun doesn’t see the DUP coming round. The PM must fix the backstop.
No, the EU won’t play ball. But the deal is in disarray anyhow, here and in Brussels. Spain, France and Germany want it rewritten to punish us further. Others want more fishing rights. Our MPs won’t back it as it is, let alone an even harder version.But, that aside, Mrs May cannot govern at all without the DUP. And she must not try just to tough this out.
She and Michel Barnier need solutions.
War on food
WILL the Tories ever put the public health busybodies back in their box?
The fizzy drinks tax was just the start. As The Sun always predicted, they’re now after everything else . . . yoghurts, cereals, takeaways, you name it.
They claim customers want the food industry to cut sugar — and that the Government must use “fiscal levers” if needed to enforce it. That’s a weasel phrase meaning “new taxes consumers will end up paying”.
Yes, obesity is a problem. But the reality of this demented war on the calories and sugar in our food supply — in place of educating Brits about diet and exercise — is blander grub or smaller portions . . . inevitably for the same price.
Shoppers will then rightly turn on these same un-Conservative politicians and nanny-state meddlers who foolishly thought we were all onboard.
Gauke’s adrift
WITH every utterance, Justice Secretary David Gauke makes his Government’s shambolic stance over the John Worboys parole scandal worse.
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There is no case for panel members remaining anonymous. And to dismiss their role as “administrative” is crass.We still don’t know who decided to free the rapist, nor who rightly overturned that judgement. But we should.
Parole panels often make rulings with life-or-death implications for the public. They must be as accountable and identifiable as any judge.
Mr Gauke is normally one of the Government’s most unflappable performers. But, after first cravenly bottling out of a judicial review over Warboys’ parole, he is now championing secrecy.
When in a hole, Mr Gauke, stop digging.