Extra infrastructure spending and air passenger duty axe: DUP demands for Tory alliance

Commentators have highlighted DUP demands as support for an alliance with the Conservatives will include the scrapping of air passenger duty to Northern Ireland and additional investment in infrastructure.

The demands are contained in the DUP's 'Northern Ireland' plan, drawn up in the event of a hung Parliament in 2015, when this was anticipated. Sam McBride, the Belfast News Letter's political editor, said he expected the proposals to form the basis for the party's discussions with the Conservatives over a deal to provide a Commons majority. The party also supports the expansion of Heathrow, like the Conservatives.

The DUP has, in addition, stated that while it supports leaving the European Union, it wants no hard border with the Republic of Ireland for Ulster - seen as favouring a 'soft Brexit' which could mean not leaving the Customs Union, which could require border checks for those travelling between the six northern counties and the Republic. This was interpreted by newspapers such as The Mirror as putting the Prime Minister's Brexit plans into "disarray".