I’m pleased to follow David Melding, who made the most coherent attempt to set out any justification for the situation we’re in, and I’ll certainly join with him in saying we must now stand up for Wales.

But let’s examine the position we’re in. By negotiating this deal, we have a Conservative-led administration in Westminster that has, in effect, exactly the majority that it had before the general election when it said that that majority was not strong and stable enough to take it through the Brexit negotiations. And I feel that really, really tells on the very precarious situation that Westminster is in. I don’t think this Government will last a Brexit round of negotiations, but time will tell, as David Melding says.

Now, the payment that has been done to allow this to happen, which is about £100 million per DUP MP—which is more than Gareth Bale got transferred for, by the way—does bring into focus just how desperate Theresa May and the Conservative Party are to stay in Government, or rather to avoid another general election for the suspicion that they have of where it may lead them. And I think it’s best crystallised in this quotation, which was said only today:

‘This is a deeply divided country and singling out one part of it in order to give a semblance of short term stability is just one more of the prices we are paying for the consequences of Brexit.’

That was Lord Heseltine. That was Lord Heseltine speaking on Scottish radio today. I always thought it would be the unionists that destroyed the union, and I’m even more convinced of it now.

Let’s examine what the financial support is for Northern Ireland, because I think it does bear some examination. A lot of people have talked about it being a three-page confidence and supply document; in fact, there are another three pages. The other three pages are about the financial arrangements and there is quite some detail there on the financial arrangements. Infrastructure development in Northern Ireland—£200 million per year for two years for the York Street interchange project. I don’t know what that is. The First Minister may know through his family connections what that is, but what I do know is that that is a predetermination before you get an executive elected in Northern Ireland, and that’s a DUP priority that’s been funded. Seventy five million pounds per year for two years to provide ultrafast broadband for Northern Ireland. Well, we could do with £75 million per year for ultrafast broadband here in Wales as well. A commitment that the needs of Northern Ireland are properly reflected in the future UK shared prosperity fund. We’ve had no such commitment yet—no such written commitment from the Westminster Government that this shared prosperity fund, which is replacing, of course, the EU structural funds, is going to deliver that well for Wales. A commitment to utilise networks of embassies and high commissions to promote Northern Ireland as a location for foreign direct investment. Promote Northern Ireland above Scotland, above Wales, above the regions of England—what does this mean? A future commitment to work towards the devolution of corporation tax rates—something that has been denied the other parts of the United Kingdom—with options developed for the autumn budget this year. A commitment to city deals across Northern Ireland. Now, this is what just makes Alun Cairns’s remarks that this is some kind of a super city deal an utter nonsense because they get this deal, and they get city deals and they get enterprise zones. So, they’re getting everything we get plus the billion. This is not just breaking Barnett, it’s trashing it and trampling it into the mud.

In order to target pockets of severe deprivation—and I accept there’s severe deprivation in Northern Ireland—the UK Government will provide £20 million per year for five years. It’s not a two-year deal; this is five years. That’s £100 million to support the Northern Ireland Executive to deliver the measures around tourism. An additional £50 million for two years to address immediate pressure in health and education. Well, yes, we could do with those. And then, £100 million for two years to support the Northern Ireland Executive’s delivery of its priority of health service transformation. We don’t have a Northern Ireland Executive yet, and yet they’re already talking about its own priority. Of course, this, in effect, could be delivered by the Westminster Government through direct rule, which will lead to even more problems.

And then a final thing—flexibility for remaining funding from previous allocations for shared education and housing to be dispersed flexibly within this spending review period. In other words, none of the Treasury rules on transfers of money from one year to another in education or housing will now apply in Northern Ireland. I don’t know how long we’ve been arguing for that—at least 10 years, at least 10 years. It does make you think: you make a sensible, coherent argument based on the economy, based on the well-being of your people, and all you’re told is that some strong-arm politics are going to win the game. Well, I say this isn’t strong-arm politics; this is desperate measures and an unstable Government that will fail. It will fail, if nothing else, on this, the final bit of the agreement and the financial part, which talks about the legacy and says this:

‘Both parties reiterate their admiration for the courage and sacrifice of the police and armed forces in upholding democracy and the rule of law and will never forget the debt of gratitude that we owe them.’

Now, in any other context, that’s a platitude and we’d all sign up to it. In the Northern Ireland context, that is dynamite—quite literally, dynamite.