Chaos warning
Theresa May is set to enjoy a victory in the House of Commons tonight, but she won’t be able to pop open the champagne. Support from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party and a lack of opposition within her Conservative Party mean the British prime minister will likely squeak to victory on a bill designed to allow her government to copy European Union law and enshrine it in the domestic statute. Once enshrined, the laws can be edited after Brexit in 2019. The real challenge will be whether May can keep the draft free of amendments at the so-called committee stage it enters next. The most contentious proposals are the so-called “Henry VIII powers,” which would allow ministers to make changes to existing laws, bypassing normal scrutiny by Parliament. The opposition Labour Party and other minor parties say that amounts to a “power grab” that they plan to contest. Some Conservatives have expressed disquiet as well. Brexit Secretary David Davis warns that blocking t...