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DUP to demand NHS cash boost in Northern Ireland from next PM

DUP MPs have told Sky News that the party expect to review the confidence and supply arrangement after Theresa May stands down.

DUP leader Nigel Dodds speaking to journalists outside parliament
Image: DUP leader Nigel Dodds speaking to journalists outside parliament
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The DUP is set to present the next prime minister with a demand for cash for NHS waiting lists in Northern Ireland within days of coming to office.

The party's MPs have told Sky News they expect to review the confidence and supply arrangement later this month after Theresa May stands down.

In 2017, the DUP negotiated a £1bn budget boost for Northern Ireland as part of a deal to ensure the ongoing support of their 10 MPs over Brexit, budgets and in confidence votes.

Of this £1bn, some £763m covering infrastructure, mental health and deprivation has been handed out, with £237m left to be handed out after this financial year.

A deal over when Northern Ireland will get the money for broadband improvements was struck at the end of May.

Theresa May meets with the DUP's Arlene Foster and Nigel Dodds
Image: Theresa May mets with the DUP's Arlene Foster and Nigel Dodds in March

However the DUP looks set to make a further demand for cash for the NHS in Northern Ireland.

Nigel Dodds, the Westminster leader of the DUP, has raised with ministers the major NHS problem in the province with waiting times for cancer.

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Earlier this week Mr Dodds told Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley in the Commons about "the atrocious waiting lists in the health service, with cancer victims being made to wait a horrendously long time and targets being missed".

He went on: "Surely in the last days of the prime minister's tenure, she will address that point and ensure that something is done to bring waiting lists under control.

"It is not good enough that the government sit on their hands while this is happening."

Under the confidence and supply deal, the terms are meant to be reviewed at the end of each session, although it is unclear when the next Queen's Speech which marks the start of a new session will happen.

DUP sources refused to put a figure on any demand.