Analysis: DUP alliance will be an uneasy one

DUP leader Arlene Foster surrounded by her fellow DUP MPs

Conservative MPs, many of whom are now sitting on smaller majorities than they were expecting, may question how meeting DUP demands for greater resources for Northern Ireland will impact on what is available for their own constituencies.

In areas like climate change, abortion and same-sex marriage, the views of the DUP are a world apart from those expressed by many Conservative MPs, particularly those elected under David Cameron’s leadership.

This group of Tory backbenchers, already concerned about the direction the Conservatives have taken under Mrs May in areas such as her support for grammar schools, could now find themselves at odds with their leader over accommodations she reaches with the DUP.

This partnership is taking shape at a particularly sensitive time in the always delicate politics of Northern Ireland.

Power-sharing collapsed following a scandal surrounding the DUP and elections and subsequent negotiations have failed to find a way forward.

It will be difficult for the UK Government to be seen as a neutral arbiter in Northern Ireland when the DUP is propping up the Conservatives in office.

And on the biggest issue facing whoever is in Government in the next few years - Brexit - the partnership with the DUP could quickly cause problems.

Mrs May did not really need to call an election to secure a mandate for the Brexit talks. Her existing term of office extended beyond the scheduled end of the discussions with Brussels.

But there was a degree of truth in her assertion that the Government negotiating Brexit needed to be “strong and stable”.

It is difficult to see how EU negotiators will be able to have confidence that they are talking with a UK government that will still be in office next week, let alone two years time, and that whatever deal is concluded will pass through Parliament.

Before the election Mrs May faced questions over whethershe would ever be able to convince Eurosceptic backbenchers to accept compromises made in the Brexit talks.

The reliance on the DUP will only make Mrs May’s task harder.