Arlene Foster, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, said that the party delivered “an extra billion pounds” for Northern Ireland.
On 31 July 2019, Arlene Foster — the leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) — said that her party will not apologise for "delivering an extra billion pounds" for Northern Ireland. She added: "Not any other party that has stood before you today has delivered one penny of money for the people of Northern Ireland. We have delivered that through our confidence and supply agreement …" [...] The official UK Government statement explains that the £1 billion is additional to £2.5 billion of financial support and flexibility provided to the Northern Ireland Executive, by way of the Stormont House Agreement (23 December 2014) and Fresh Start Agreement (17 November 2015). The agreed £1 billion funding falls outside the consideration of the Barnett Formula; the funding is specific to the jurisdiction of Northern Ireland. [...] The DUP agreed to support the Government on all key votes and the Government agreed to provide the Northern Ireland Executive with additional financial support: £1 billion over five years. The Confidence and Supply Agreement contained details of the agreed areas of expenditure: infrastructure development, health service transformation, broadband development, immediate pressures in health and education, pockets of severe deprivation, and mental health.