Talks with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party on a deal to prop up Britain's minority government in parliament are "progressing in the right way", the international development secretary, Priti Patel, said on Sunday. Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives hope to secure DUP support to pass legislation after losing their parliamentary majority in a June 8 election, and with pivotal negotiations on Britain leaving the European Union getting under way. "From what I understand with the DUP, the talks are ongoing and they are progressing in the right way as well, so that deal will come to the conclusion at the right time," Patel told ITV's Peston on Sunday show. "I think the reality is that we have key votes coming forward in the next week on the Queen's Speech and we'll work with the DUP obviously to ensure that they give us that support." The proposed tie-up with the DUP has raised concerns in Conservative ranks over the Northern Irish party's conservative social policies. But Nigel Dodds, deputy leader of the DUP, told Sky News that such issues would not be part of any deal. "People can always go back through the archives of any political party and find individuals saying things or policies from 20-30 years ago," he said. "But they need to read our manifesto and look at the history of recent years in Northern Ireland where the DUP has been the main partner in government with Republicans to move this province forward." Britain to crack down on militant, criminal financing Britain will bring in new rules on Monday to crack down on funds used to finance organized crime and terrorism, requiring businesses such as banks, estate agents, accountants and payment firms to carry out more checks on money flows. The government said that while the majority of businesses were vigilant, the new rules would improve the quality of the checks to make sure that businesses can spot suspicious activity and report it. "Terrorist financing and money laundering are significant threat to our national security, and we are determined to make the UK a hostile environment for illicit finance," Stephen Barclay, economic secretary to the Treasury, said in a statement. "These new rules will tighten our defenses, protect the integrity of our financial system and help protect the British public from terror attacks and criminal activities." Britain has suffered a series of attacks in recent months, with 35 people killed by militants in London and Manchester, while a man killed one and injured several others when he drove a van into Muslim worshippers leaving a London mosque. — Reuters
