DUP talks not going as expected – Sky sources

Talks between the DUP and the Government "haven’t proceeded in a way that DUP would have expected", sources have told Sky News.

The sources say Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party is urging the Government to give "greater focus" to the negotiations and that the "party can’t be taken for granted".

A day before setting out her legislative measures in the Queen’s Speech, Theresa May has yet to secure a deal with the DUP. Her Government programme goes to a Commons vote next week.

The talks have been ongoing since the Conservatives failed to win an outright parliamentary majority in a disastrous General Election on 8 June.

Number 10 is confident that the DUP will eventually back Mrs May, but a deal remains elusive.

Adding to the complications is the wider politics of Northern Ireland and the Government’s attempts to restore the power-sharing executive at Stormont.

Mrs May met with Irish premier Leo Varadkar on Tuesday.

Sky’s Ireland Correspondent David Blevins said the "debacle we have been witnessing over the last ten days is quite extraordinary".

"Twenty-four hours before the Queen’s speech there is no agreement.

"Remember this began the morning after the General Election result when Theresa May stood outside Number 10 and said she was going to form a Government with the help of allies and fiends – even though at that point the only commitment she had from the Democratic Unionists was that they would engage in a conversation."

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