ARLENE Foster says the DUP could enter into a coalition with Labour if the next General Election delivers a Hung Parliament.
In an exclusive GB News interview she said: “I'm looking with interest at the polls at the moment and the possibility of a hung parliament coming again. And at that time we took a decision not to go into formal coalition but to go into a confidence and supply agreement where we would support on particular issues, particularly around Brexit at that time and to bring benefit for the people of Northern Ireland, which we did through the arrangements.
“I think if it happens at the next general election again the party leader will have to decide whether to go into coalition, whether to go into a confidence and supply agreement, and whether it's good for the people of Northern Ireland and whether it's good for the nation as a whole, which is one of the reasons why we did it. We felt we were allowing the nation to honour the Brexit vote which had taken place. So there's a whole load of imponderables, but I'll watch very carefully with interest if it happens the next time around.”
Asked by Gloria De Piero if it was “fanciful to even think that there could ever be any sort of agreement with the Labour Party and the DUP” she said: “No, I don't think so. I don't think so at all. I think there are quite good relationships with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Kyle, and indeed with Sir Keir as well.”
Arlene Foster spoke about a variety of political issues to Gloria De Piero
GB News
Her comments formed part of a far-reaching interview in which she also opened about her life growing up in Northern Ireland.
Speaking in harrowing detail about the moment her father was shot by the IRA she told GB News: “My father was a police officer. He used to come home quite late at night from duty and on this occasion I think the IRA thought he was coming home late, and they hid behind a hedge quite close to our house. As it was, he was actually in the house. He wasn't coming home, but he'd gone out to close in cattle for the evening.
“I was just 8 and a half at the time. My brother was 4, and you could hear the rapid gunfire. Of course, when you're that age, you didn't know what it was, and I looked at MY mother who was sitting there deadly still. And then daddy came in, crawling on all fours with blood coming from his head. He ushered us all upstairs. Because of where we lived, he had flares in the house to alert the security forces if there was an attack on him. He put off the flares and we all had to lie on the floor until, about 7-8 minutes later help came.
“It is a very stark memory, obviously, for me. But other things could have happened. We understand that the gun that was used to try and kill my father jammed. If it hadn't jammed, would they have come after him into the house? There's a whole load of imponderables. But my father survived.
“We're always very thankful for that because there are so many people who were attacked at that time in the late 70s and through into the 1980s who didn't survive and we're very thankful that he lived for another 32 years after that.”
Commenting on how she later coped working alongside former IRA commander Martin McGuinness she continued: “I was very aware of who Martin McGuinness was because I'd been in the executive since 2007.
“He had been the deputy First Minister for all of that time and I'd seen the way that he had operated. I knew his history. I knew he was an IRA commander. I knew he had also been to the [funeral of the] man who was suspected of trying to murder my father, that man was later killed by the SAS as he was going to do other deeds, and Martin McGuinness gave a eulogy at his funeral about what a great guy he was.
“So I knew exactly who I was dealing with, but I also had to recognise that he had been voted into that particular position. I had been voted into the position I was holding and to try and build for the future. I had to try and deal with my feelings towards him, my feelings towards the IRA, to try and move things forward and I'm not going to tell you it was easy, because it wasn't.
“It was difficult, but I think it was the right thing to do. I mean, other people didn't think it was the right thing to do and I absolutely acknowledge that and have a lot of empathy for where they came from. But in order to move things forward in Northern Ireland, I felt it was the right thing to do. That's why I shared power with him.”