Price of DUP support is EU referendum, says Dodds

The Democratic Unionist Party will demand the holding of an European Union referendum as part of its price to support Labour's Ed Miliband in power if its votes are needed in the Commons after the general election.

The party's Westminster leader, North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds, insisted that the DUP would consider the interests of the United Kingdom "as a whole", rather than seek narrow advantage for Northern Ireland.

On EU treaty changes to give the UK greater control over its borders, Mr Dodds writes: “Free movement of labour does not have to entail free access to benefits paid for by other countries’ taxpayers.

"We would expect any government we're called upon to sustain in the Commons to promptly and comprehensively tackle UK border integrity," said Mr Dodds, in an article written for the Guardian.

Significant headache

Mr Dodds’s intervention poses a significant headache for Mr Miliband, who has consistently refused demands from within his own ranks to match the Conservatives’ pledge to hold a referendum on EU membership.

“We are neither looking to exploit any position of advantage for limited party ends, nor do we merely wish to present a shopping list of desirable goodies funded by a depleted and hard-pressed Treasury,” he said.

“Our goal at Westminster as a unionist party is to see the entire Union prosper. The proposals I outline would put the interests of the Union as a whole first, should neither Cameron nor Miliband manage to form a government on their own.”

Meanwhile, the DUP would demand that British defence spending remains at 2 per cent of gross domestic spending – a popular stand with Conservatives – while the two aircraft carriers being built should both come into service, he said.