£1bn for Northern Ireland dominates the headlines
The Irish News’ front page shows a cartoon of Prime Minister Theresa May up a ladder and shaking the “money tree” with DUP leader Arlene Foster gleefully collecting the cash in her dress.
The paper says that if political talks at Stormont fail to agree a return to power sharing, the DUP and Conservatives will administer the extra money via a “co-ordination committee” and Sinn Féin will therefore be “excluded from influence”.
In addition to its front page splash, the paper devotes its first eight pages to the story with political analyst John Manley comparing Arlene Foster to the “cat who got the cream”.
Sinn Féin
The Irish News editorial says that the political pressure is now on Sinn Féin to return to the Stormont executive though it does point out that it will not want to be seen to be “dancing to the DUP’s tune”.
“One billion smiles,” is the headline in the News Letter.
Its lead picture shows the DUP’s Nigel Dodds, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and Arlene Foster along with Theresa May – and the DUP contingent is certainly smiling. Mrs May is, perhaps, a little more reserved.
The paper’s lead story describes the Tory-DUP agreement as “historic” and compares it to the Irish nationalist leader John Redmond holding the balance of power in Westminster more than 100 years ago.
The first eight pages of the News Letter are also devoted to the cash windfall.
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