MPS have to approve May’s £1bn deal with the DUP

THERESA MAY will have to seek the permission of Parliament to honour the £1billion deal between the Conservatives and Democratic Unionist Party to prop up her minority government, it has emerged.

None of the money has so far been handed over because MPS must sign off any new spending that does not come out of existing budgets. The majority of public spending is approved through a vote on the Budget.

Gina Miller, who successfully led a legal bid to challenge the Government’s right to trigger Article 50, 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 the money to Northern Ireland over the next two years under the terms of a deal brokered in the wake of the general election, but no date has yet been set for MPS to approve it.

The deal guarantees Mrs May the support of the DUP’S 10 MPS on key votes in the House of Commons but Ms Miller said it now appeared that “the cheque might bounce”.

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”.

If Mrs May faces a Commons vote, the prospect of a defeat appears slim.