Leader comment: DUP deal threatens hopes of consensus

It is one of many great ironies of the fall-out from last week's general election that Conservative minister Michael Gove says the government wants to work with Labour to get a Brexit deal through parliament '“ just seven weeks after an election was called with the sole purpose of crushing any opposition to Theresa May's strategy. With that grand plan in tatters, the Conservatives now need to reach out to Labour and acknowledge the merits of common purpose. Who would ever have thought it?

Former prime minister Sir John Major says he has doubts about a planned deal between the Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party.

The move is borne of political necessity, but it could be one of the few benefits of last week’s uncertain outcome. The UK government has been forced to reconsider its approach, and now finds that all parts of the country have a voice that should be listened to. Maybe this will result in a better, or more appropriate, deal for all.

The EU referendum was not run along party political lines, so it has always seemed uncomfortable that the negotiation of Brexit would be the remit of only one political party.

The compromises now required as the government opens up to consultation should, in theory, improve the chances of some sort of consensus being reached. However, the ideal of the greater good prevailing is under serious threat from the most significant consequence of last week’s result, in the shape of an agreement between the Conservatives and the DUP to keep Theresa May in power.

On Tuesday, we heard Sir John Major raise concerns about the effect a Conservative-DUP deal would have on the peace process in Northern Ireland. It was a timely intervention from the former Prime Minister, although he was only saying what many others have said.

It is virtually impossible to see how the peace process would not be fundamentally compromised by a deal between the government and only one of the key parties involved. Even if the process was to be scrupulously objective, the public perception of unfairness would undermine all deliberations.

And working with the DUP also presents difficulties for the UK government over LGBTI rights, abortion and climate change.

A deal is said to be imminent, and will possibly be announced on Wednesday. Judgment can only be passed when the full details are revealed, but the omens are not good. Any hopes of eventual consensus over Brexit could in fact be derailed by an initial compromise too far.