MPs may face sitting until Christmas

MPs could have to sit until Christmas Day if Theresa May’s Government loses a vote of confidence after her expected Commons defeat on Tuesday.

The motion – “That this House has no confidence in Her Majesty’s Government” – would, if carried, legally demonstrate that her Government cannot command the confidence of the Commons. Analysis of the Government’s majority in the House of Commons shows that if the Democrat Unionist Party’s 10 MPs voted with all the other opposition MPs the Government would lose by a single vote.

According to House of Commons guidance, “the general assumption is that defeat on the first motion would oblige the administration to resign and a new one to be appointed, but this is not required under the Act”.

Parliament’s sitting would be extended and confidence votes held regularly until Dec 25.