A Tory-DUP deal is a destructive pact that makes no sense at all | Martin Kettle

In the scrabble for a majority, Theresa May seems to have again rushed into an unnecessary response, overlooking the unionists’ cumbersome baggage

“I’m the person who got us into this mess,” Theresa May told Tory MPs on Monday, “and I’m the one who will get us out of it.” The prime minister is right about the first half of that statement. But she is wrong about the second half. She has not learned from her humbling at the polls last week. In April, she rushed into an unnecessary election. Now, amid the political debris of that error, she is again rushing prematurely into an unnecessary response, in the shape of a destructive pact with the Democratic Unionists in June.

In neither of these cases has May thought the dangers through properly. In her desire to appear decisive and in command she has brushed inconvenient realities aside. But realities always bite back eventually. The principal reality is that the DUP is not just any small party at Westminster. On the contrary, the unionists are a very particular entity. They bring three pieces of specially difficult baggage with them that a UK-wide political party like the Liberal Democrats, Labour or the Greens do not.

Related: A deal with the DUP will be painful for Theresa May, and put peace at risk | Peter Hain

Related: Mrs May’s deal with the DUP threatens 20 years hard work in Ireland | Jonathan Powell

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