UK Edition
Gina Miller in new challenge to Government over Commons approval for £1 billion DUP deal
Theresa May will have to seek the permission of Parliament to honour the £1 billion deal done between the Conservatives and Democratic Unionist Party to prop up her minority government.
Gina Miller, who successfully led a legal bid to challenge the Government’s right to trigger Article 50, has confronted ministers over the allocation of the cash and has been told MPs will have to sign off on the funding.
The Government is due to hand over the extra funding to Northern Ireland over the next two years under the terms of a deal done in the wake of the general election to prop up the Conservative minority government.
The deal guarantees Mrs May the support of the DUP's 10 MPs on key votes in the House of Commons.
The Government Legal Department responded to a legal challenge from Ms Miller and the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain group and said the money will require “appropriate parliamentary authorisation”.
The letter, sent on behalf of Jonathan Jones, the Treasury Solicitor, also said no timetable had been put in place “for the making of such payments”.
The Government’s letter said that “long-established procedures” would be used “under which central government requests the grant of money by the House of Commons”.
The comments suggest that Mrs May could face a vote in the Commons on the issue - but the prospect of a defeat appear to be slim.
Tory MPs, even those who may find the £1bn unpalatable, are unlikely to vote to scupper the deal because doing so could risk bringing down the Government.
Without the support of the DUP Mrs May would be unable to command a majority in the House of Commons.
The £1 billion deal provoked a storm of outrage when it was made public with critics asking whether other regions of the UK would also receive a funding boost.
Ms Miller said it “beggars belief” that the Government had not previously confirmed that the cash “could only be handed over following parliamentary approval”.
She said: “We all need to know when the Government intended to come clean to Parliament, its Parliamentary Party, and the public. When was parliamentary time going to be found to authorise this payment?
“And did the DUP know the cheque the Government promised to pay might bounce?”
The letter from the Treasury Solicitor also states that the Government is “not under a legal obligation” to allocate similar funding to the other devolved administrations.
It states: “The Barnett formula is a non-binding convention and it does not preclude other means of additional funding being made available.”
The letter effectively confirms the Government cannot dish out money to Northern Ireland using prerogative powers and must ask Parliament for permission to do so.
It states: “The proposed claim is premised on significant misconceptions (a) that the alleged payment has already been made and (b) that it has been or will be made pursuant to the Government’s prerogative powers.
“The correct position is that the Agreement does not, and could not, involve the Government providing or committing itself to any provision of additional funds to Northern Ireland which would not be authorised under standard procedures, including the consent of Parliament.
“Further, the mechanism by which money is made available by central Government to Northern Ireland is not in prerogative powers.”