Murnaghan Interview with Nigel Dodds, DUP, Deputy Leader 12.04.15

ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now the Democratic Unionists, the DUP, are currently the fourth largest party in parliament and if the election result is very close, as many predict, there MPs could therefore become crucial to whichever party tries to form a government so what would they demand in return for supporting some kind of coalition?  I am joined now from Belfast by the Deputy Leader of the DUP, Nigel Dodds, and a very good morning to you Mr Dodds.  So let’s just get this crystal clear, you would support any of the main parties but at what price?

NIGEL DODDS: Well we have worked alongside the Labour party in government and the Conservative party in government in trying to move Northern Ireland forward and moving it from where it used to be to where it is now and in parliament we have supported proposals from either party, judging things on their merits, what’s in the best interest of the country as a whole and what’s in the best interests of course of Northern Ireland because first and foremost we want to advance the interests of the people of Northern Ireland, all of them, and of course to strengthen the Union.  

DM: Okay but specifically, we’ve heard from your colleague Ian Paisley Junior that you need a billion pounds shelled out for Northern Ireland.  

NIGEL DODDS: Well our interest in terms of the next parliament is first of all to ensure that the United Kingdom is strengthened, it’s important that the tide of nationalism that seems to be sweeping certain parts of the country is withstood and resisted.  We want to strengthen the United Kingdom, not break it up and I think that’s something that both the Labour party and the Conservative party will be interested in having as someone who they can work alongside.  We want to ensure there are strong defences for the United Kingdom, we want an EU referendum, we want to see stronger border controls, we want to have the deficit dealt with but in a compassionate way and that’s why we opposed the bedroom tax but of course first and foremost, we have published our Northern Ireland plan which is about moving Northern Ireland forward, strengthening the Union and delivering for all the people of Northern Ireland a better future in terms of world class public services and restoring Northern Ireland to the economic powerhouse that it once was.

DM: But does that, Mr Dodds, include more money coming to Northern Ireland from the Treasury?  I mean the Stormont House Agreement more or less settled it, didn’t it, in terms of the cuts and the austerity that you have to go through?

NIGEL DODDS: Well, as I say, obviously we want to deliver the highest standard of public services in Northern Ireland.  We have suffered £1.5 billion in cuts from the block grant, the Northern Ireland Executive and the Assembly has made strong efforts on its own to create £4 billion of savings efficiencies and at the same time increase spending on health and education quite dramatically but clearly in any hung parliament we as Northern Ireland MPs, we as Unionist MPs, will be wanting to do the very best deal for the people of Northern Ireland on all sides of the community and to strengthen the Union and to move Northern Ireland forward but I am not going to sit or stand here today and negotiate publicly what our position will be in the event of a hung parliament.   We have set out a very clear plan and we will sit down with whoever is the biggest party and we will talk to them and see how far we can meet this plan for Northern Ireland, how far their objectives marry with our objectives in terms of strengthening the Union and that’s why it’s important I think that a strong block of DUP MPs who can really make a real influence in terms of dealing with the threat of nationalism, strengthening the United Kingdom at home and abroad and delivering a say on the European Union for instance that people want throughout the United Kingdom.

DM: But just lay that out for us in black and white then, Mr Dodds.  You’ve said it many times there about wanting to strengthen the Union, you are of course the Democratic Unionist Party, therefore if Labour were relying in some loose way, and it was the largest party and relying on SNP votes to get its major bills through, that is a deal you couldn’t join in because of the SNPs ambitions?

NIGEL DODDS: Well we certainly would not be party to any kind of coalition or formal arrangement even short of a coalition which would involve the SNP which are out to break up the United Kingdom, wielding enormous influence over Ed Miliband and the Labour government.  That is something I think that would be bad for Northern Ireland, bad for the United Kingdom as a whole because ultimately the SNP are about breaking up the United Kingdom, not furthering the interests of the United Kingdom.  So what we in the DUP are saying is that both to the Conservatives and to the Labour party and to other parties and to the people of the United Kingdom a reassurance that we will actually promote the best interests of the United Kingdom, that we want to strengthen the United Kingdom both economically, socially, defence wise and on the world stage and of course we are Northern Ireland MPs, we are Unionist MPs, we want to advance the interests of Northern Ireland and we will do that as our record shows vigorously, enthusiastically and robustly but we will also act in the best interests of the United Kingdom as a whole.  

DM: Okay Mr Dodds, good to talk to you, thank you very much indeed.  Nigel Dodds there, Deputy Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party.