UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s efforts to form a minority government with the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has hit another snag, as it appears now that she needs the parliament’s approval for a £1 billion payment to the DUP as part of the agreement.
After a legal challenge by campaigner Gina Miller and the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) about the legality of the payment, the government confirmed on Sunday that the fund will only be released to Northern Ireland upon “appropriate parliamentary authorization.”
“No timetable has been set for the making of such payments,” said Jonathan Jones, the Treasury Solicitor, who also heads the Government Legal Department.
The official said May’s government was going to use “long-established procedures, under which central government requests the grant of money by the House of Commons” in order to pay the promised parts to the DUP.
In their legal…