Relief for Boris Johnson as MPs back government plans in Queen’s Speech
2 min read
Boris Johnson has been handed a boost after MPs backed the Government’s domestic agenda laid out in a Queen’s Speech earlier this month.
MPs supported the Prime Minister’s legislative plans by 310 to 294, after the DUP threw their weight behind him, despite the party's staunch objections to his Brexit deal.
The document, read out by the Queen in the House of Lords, listed 22 bills on areas such as the NHS, justice, animal welfare and on Brexit.
Since the Fixed Term Parliaments Act was passed in 2011, a Queen’s Speech is no longer widely considered a confidence matter.
Downing Street had insisted that the PM would not have resigned had he lost, however it would have marked a major humiliation, and made him the first leader to lose the vote since the 1920s.
The Commons also voted down Jeremy Corbyn's attempt to amend the Queen's Speech motion, to criticise ministers’ record on the economy, housing and on climate change, by 311 votes to 293.
And they dismissed a bid by the SNP and Plaid Cymru, which took aim at the Government over plans to curb free movement, its welfare policies and called for the devolved governments to have a veto on the Brexit bill - by 310 votes to 64.
In advance of the vote, a spokesman for the Prime Minister had called on MPs to back it.
He said: "MPs voting against the Queen’s Speech tonight will be voting against investment and improvements to public services, they would be voting against legislation which will lead to violent and serious offenders spending longer behind bars, they will be voting against measures to level up across the country and to make sure that everybody in every part of the UK makes the most of the skills and the talents which they have.
"The PM is very clear that this is an ambitious legislative programme and that Parliament should get behind it."
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