The Tories just bought themselves a majority with our money

Today the Scottish Twittersphere is apoplectic that the one billion pound deal that the Tories have done with the DUP won’t result in any extra cash for Scotland.

Fair enough, I can see why people would be annoyed that the best-funded part of the UK is now going to be even better funded and other regions will be seeing nothing extra.

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Personally, I don’t want any extra money on the back of this sordid bung.

Although it’s heinous that the Tories are going to subvert the normal funding arrangements, that is one of the least outrageous things about the deal.

The worst thing about it is that the so-called strong and stable Tories have just bought themselves a majority using out money.

They have done so after years of austerity. At a time they have been telling every man and his dog there is no extra money. At a time when their brutal funding cuts have been responsible for the deaths of thousands of the poorest in society. A time when normal funding for essential services like the NHS and the fire brigade has been stripped to the bone.

Buying power when so many are suffering is surely not an acceptable use of taxpayers’ money?

Not only that but they have given the backhander to the most regressive party in mainstream politics. A party with values that a Victorian priest might think a tad prehistoric. A party that has been mired in financial controversy after controversy. A party with a history of supporting terrorists.

In facilitating this sweetener the Tories have put peace in Northern Ireland in jeopardy. The Good Friday agreement stipulates that the UK government should not favour either side. Now the UK government have put themselves in a position where they are beholden to the whims of the Ulster Unionists.

A heightening of tension isn’t the only problem the bribe will cause for Ireland.

The deal gives the Tories a free hand to pursue a hard Brexit. A hard Brexit that will almost certainly result in custom posts on the Irish border if not a hard border itself. A measure that will almost certainly result in increased tensions and an economic downturn.

So for short term gains, both sides have entered into a smutty little pact. For selfish reasons, they are willing to endanger the peace process and hinder the future economic prosperity of Ireland.

Not to mention the damage that a hard Brexit is going to do to the UK and Europe as a whole.

So, while it’s terrible that Scotland won’t get any money from this it’s not money I want anyway. It’s a dirty, corrosive bribe and in the long term, it will have malignant consequences.

One only hopes that there are a few conscientious Tory backbenchers willing to vote down the Queen’s speech bill this week. There must be a handful within those ranks capable of putting country before party?

If a government needs to bribe its way into power at the potential cost of future peace and prosperity, then surely even the odd Tory would agree; that government has to go.