Tories try out life as a minority government

MPs and ministers who had settled down in Parliament on Tuesday evening for a late night of votes on the finance bill were given an early reprieve – all votes were off. However, rather than an early Christmas present from No.10, the shelving of votes on the finance bill was down to a reason out of Theresa May’s control: no working majority.

With the DUP abstaining for a second day over grievances with the EU withdrawal text, the government decided to concede all amendments to the bill – including one from the SNP. It’s not clear they would have lost on every single amendment but after the antics of Monday (when the DUP voted with Labour but not enough Labour MPs turned up to secure victory), all opposition MPs were on standby to try and inflict a defeat on the government. Rather than bring about embarrassing scenes, the Tories quietly conceded.