The hypocrisy of the dup is beyond staggering | thearticle

DUP politicians have always prided themselves on being tough negotiators. “This is a battle of who blinks first, and we’ve cut off our eyelids,” one party source proudly told the _Sun_ in

December 2017, back when Theresa May was engaged in a frantic bout of telephone diplomacy with Dublin and Belfast. Now, Arlene Foster’s party is playing hardball with Boris Johnson, refusing

to let her Westminster MPs vote for the “great deal” he’s negotiated with the EU. They are also encouraging other Brexiteers to follow suit, attempting to lock up crucial votes from the

hardliner European Research Group. Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s Brexit spokesman, declared: “Conservative and Unionist MPs must take a stand for the Union and join us in rejecting this deal.

Internal and burdensome trade barriers will be erected within the UK without parallel consent from both unionists and nationalists.” (I won’t bother pointing out to Mr Wilson that the thing

that puts up “burdensome trade barriers” is leaving the EU.) The DUP wants alignment with the rest of the UK when it comes to Brexit. This is an understandable, but staggeringly difficult,

demand with which to comply, given that there will be a land border between the EU and the UK on the island of Ireland once we leave. Yet, in other areas, notably on social issues, it

insists on being able differentiate within the six counties. When David Cameron and Nick Clegg’s coalition government brought in the landmark legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry,

Northern Ireland was exempt. In 2015 there was actually a majority for same-sex marriage in the Stormont Assembly, but it was blocked by one party… I’ll give you three guesses. Yes, the DUP

filed what is called a petition of concern. This meant that the proposal needed a cross-community majority, and failed. Similar is true of abortion, which is not legal in Northern Ireland,

unlike the rest of the UK. The Stormont Assembly has not sat for nearly three years. However, the DUP has now magically managed to get its act together, with 27 of its MLAs backing a call

for it to return. The reason? If it is not sitting by 31 October, same-sex marriage and abortion will both become legal in Northern Ireland. That potential change follows extensive

campaigning by, among others, Labour MP Stella Creasey. It is worth pausing to fully take that in. The DUP, the biggest single party in the Stormont Assembly, could not motivate itself to

bring the institution back together to deal with Brexit or the myriad other issues facing the people of Northern Ireland. But it can do so to stop those progressive law changes. The

hypocrisy is staggering. This party, which backed Brexit, despite the potential for it to be a disaster for Northern Ireland, is holding the rest of the country to ransom – dangling us over

the cliff edge of a no-deal Brexit, or the continuing disruption caused by the Benn Act forcing a further extension. All the while, they demand that their female constituents cannot get

access to safe, legal abortions and insist that those in loving same-sex relationships cannot get married. Regionalism, localism and devolution are broadly positive things. Even those of us

who strongly support the Union can largely agree on that. However, on big ticket social issues it does not seem right that one part of the Union can pick and choose in this way. Frankly, we

should not be leaving the people of Northern Ireland behind when it comes to making social progress. Of course, it was Theresa May’s disastrous 2017 election campaign that wiped out her

majority and gave the DUP so much power. That was her failing. Nevertheless, the way these people have deployed that power is beneath contempt. Let us hope after this abject period in

British politics they never have so much sway over it again. Unionists, and the people of Northern Ireland as a whole, deserve so much better. We all do.