Can PM order military action without vote?

A key question facing Prime Minister Theresa May is whether Parliament should be consulted over British military intervention in Syria. Q Does the Prime Minister need to get approval from Parliament? A No. Deploying the armed forces is a prerogative power, which means the Prime Minister can act without backing from MPS. Q Doesn’t Parliament expect to have a say in practice? A Yes. A year after taking power, the coalition government suggested that since the Iraq vote in 2003 a convention had emerged that before troops were committed to military operations MPS should have a say. It said the administration would observe that practice except when there was an emergency and such action would not be appropriate. Critics said that between 2003 and the announcement in March 2011 there had been no government-tabled debate or vote on any military deployment, including on sending significant numbers of troops to Afghanistan in 2006. Q Haven’t there been votes on action in Syria before? A Yes. In 2013 David Cameron went to the House to ask for support to join Us-led air strikes in Syria after Bashar alassad used chemical weapons against Syrian civilians. He was defeated by 13 votes. He went back to MPS in December 2015 to ask for support for UK involvement in air strikes against Islamic State in Syria and won by 397 votes to 223. Q What are the implications of those votes for Mrs May? A It makes it more difficult for the Prime Minister to act without the back-up of the Commons. Many in Westminster believe the 2013 vote made future military action without a vote hugely difficult politically.