As a Conservative Party member today feels more like a funeral when, in truth, it should have been a coronation, writes Martin Curtis, associate director at Curtin & Co.
Whether Theresa May remains prime minister in the long term remains to be seen. However, it looks like the short-term outcome is an informal arrangement between the DUP and the Conservatives.
I suspect the DUP view is that Northern Ireland can gain from this while, at the same time, they keep Jeremy Corbyn out of power – someone they have no love for.
So what is the impact on the housing agenda? My immediate thought is that the Conservatives will get to deliver an undiluted manifesto in this area, which includes a commitment to 1.5m more homes by 2022, powers to build social housing and enhancing compulsory purchase powers for local authorities.
However, the House of Lords may feel they have a right to interfere in the Conservative’s manifesto commitments, because they didn’t get an outright majority.
Is it business as usual? Maybe not. The one thing that is certain is that the business of government has become a whole lot less certain and we know that markets don’t like uncertainty. That is one of the reasons why we must get past the chaos of this General Election and onto business as usual as quickly as possible.
One final thought: at what point does an anti-establishment vote at an election stop becoming a surprise?
