Nothing has the potential to harm Theresa May’s weakened government more than a battle over the rights of Parliament. Just remember the PR disaster for the government that was the government’s High Court battle with Gina Miller over the right for a Parliamentary vote on the exercise of Article 50. Having fought and lost in the courts, the government had no trouble whatsoever in passing the Article 50 legislation. Why expend so much energy in a battle which makes you look authoritarian and yet which you never needed to fight in the first place?
Tonight, Labour will be hoping to repeat the exercise with the vote on the second reading of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill. They will hope to inflict a defeat, like Gina Miller, not directly over Brexit but over the right of Parliament to scrutinise legislation.
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