News broke this morning that the Northern Ireland political party, the DUP, has demanded one billion euros from Angela Merkel in order to support her CDU party in the Bundestag.

It’s believed Ms Merkel is considering the proposition, although substantial legal changes would have to be made to the constitution of Germany to allow the DUP to vote in their parliament.

The Rochdale Herald’s Bundestag special representative explained the thinking behind the move.

“It’s the cash. There’s no question about that. Do you know how many Ark themed parks you can build with a billion Euros? Also, it’s a way for the DUP to spread their influence out beyond Westminster. This way, if they get into difficulties with Theresa May, they can play Merkel and May off against one another. Merkel runs a party with Christian in the name, so the DUP think she’s more likely to believe in Noah too,”

It’s not clear how the DUP would like the money to be paid, some rumours suggest unmarked bills in brown envelopes, as was the case with the deal paid for by Theresa May.

“It’s going to be easier to do the deal with Merkel than it was with Theresa May. Merkel actually knows how to do deals. Theresa May staring dumbfounded at the representatives of the DUP was one of the reasons it took so long to stitch up their coalition for Westminster,”

As to how Angela Merkel will manage to make it legal for the DUP to vote in the Bundestag, our correspondent had some words of wisdom.

“Once the EU Withdrawal Bill is through the commons than Theresa May will believe she has the power of royal prerogative over the entirety of Europe.

“She can just change the German constitution then to whatever she sees fit. Which is exactly what she’s planning to do in the United Kingdom,”