Theresa May’s Case for Claiming a Majority That She Doesn’t Have
- Opposition Labour pounces on initiative, calls it power grab
- But “Parliament makes its own rules” argues one observer
Theresa May at the state opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster on June 21, 2017.
Photographer: irsty Wigglesworth/WPA Pool/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Does Theresa May have a majority in Parliament? Famously not, if you’ve followed British politics. Hers is a minority government reliant on the outside support of a handful of Northern Irish lawmakers.
But her spokeswoman is claiming otherwise to defend what critics see as an underhanded move to control once-obscure committees that now matter with Brexit. “The government has a majority on the floor of the House,” Alison Donnelly told reporters on Friday.