What the latest government defeat means for May’s premiership

After numerous last ditch efforts to dig themselves out of this hole, the government has found itself in contempt of Parliament over its refusal to publish the Attorney General’s legal advice in full. The DUP joined forces with Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP to vote for a motion which finds ministers in contempt over the government’s refusal to share the legal advice in full – at 311 to 293. The government has now said it will publish the legal verdict (expect some horrors). If they fail to comply, then a minister could face suspension .

However, the part of this whole debacle that should worry No.10 the most is not the impending publication of legal advice. Instead, it’s the fact that the government lost by 18 votes thus proving that without the DUP’s support, the Tories have no working majority.

The DUP have been perfectly clear that if Theresa May gets her deal through and the troubled backstop gets the green light, they will have to reconsider their confidence and supply agreement.