LONDON—Before she lost her parliamentary majority in elections this month, Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain harbored bold ambitions to reshape her country’s politics, promising to reach out to working-class voters who were left behind by globalization and struggling to get by.
But on Wednesday, May jettisoned much of her policy agenda, putting forward a slimmed down legislative program intended to minimize the risk of defeats in Parliament, while focusing on Britain’s departure from the European Union, a process known as Brexit.
Her authority shattered by the election debacle, May is fighting for survival. Despite days of negotiations to secure support for her minority government from 10 lawmakers from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland, there was still no agreement on Wednesday.
Having already postponed by two days the Queen’s Speech to Parliament, in which the monarch outlines the government’s coming legislation, May proceeded without an accord with the DUP, and in the knowledge that any contentious bill risks defeat.
Queen Elizabeth II’s role in presenting the agenda is a significant ceremonial duty. Buckingham Palace announced on Wednesday morning that the queen’s husband, Prince Philip, had been hospitalized on Tuesday night “as a precautionary measure, for treatment of an infection arising from a preexisting condition”.
Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, accompanied the queen to Parliament in place of Philip for a ceremony that was, by British standards, relatively light on pomp.
Because the June 8 snap election provided little time for preparation, the monarch arrived by car, not carriage, and wore a hat rather than a crown (though the crown traveled in a separate vehicle to Parliament in accordance with protocol).
The queen’s choice of headgear became an unexpected talking point with a number of posts on Twitter claiming it bore striking similarities to the EU flag.
The speech she delivered, meanwhile, was noteworthy less for what it contained than for what it omitted or played down. Those included moves to expand the number of grammar schools, which admit pupils after tests; several promises to remove some financial privileges for affluent elderly voters; a pledge to reopen Britain’s debate on fox hunting; and a push to consider a price cap on energy costs, which appeared to have been toned down.
Nor was there any mention of imminent plans to host President Donald J. Trump on a state visit. Though May’s office says that the invitation still stands, there have been reports that Trump favored postponing a trip to Britain, where his presence is very likely to prompt protests.
May promised to work “in the national interest” and with “humility and resolve”, but her trimmed policy agenda highlighted the extraordinary speed with which her fortunes have declined.
Not only has she been blamed by many in the Conservative Party for a disastrous election campaign she need not have fought, she was also widely judged to have mishandled the aftermath of a devastating and deadly fire at a London high rise last week.
May’s next crucial test will be winning a vote next week on the Queen’s Speech.
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, promised to use “every opportunity to vote down government policies that failed to win public support”.
“This is a government without a majority, without a mandate, without a serious legislative program, led by a prime minister who has lost her political authority and is struggling to stitch together a deal to stay in office,” Corbyn told lawmakers.
While May’s medium-term position remains fragile, she is likely to secure some sort of support from the DUP. A party with strong Protestant roots, the DUP worries that without its help, May’s government could fall and one way or another, power could pass to the Labour Party and its left-wing leader, who has a history of close ties to Irish republicans.
It remained unclear whether the DUP would support the government on crucial confidence motions, or would enter a broader arrangement to guarantee the passage of other important bills, including those on finance.
Even if May prevailed and won approval for the Queen’s Speech, as expected, she would still struggle to pass every piece of contentious legislation, hence her decision to drop some measures that were once at the heart of her political thinking.
Though there were plans announced on Wednesday to review antiterrorism strategy and data-privacy laws, and to tackle domestic violence, May focused mainly on Britain’s withdrawal from the EU, outlining eight bills intended to provide the legislative framework for the move.
That approach presents its own perils, however, because the general election failed to deliver an endorsement of the clean break with the bloc that she wanted—one that prioritizes control of immigration over economic interests.
Although the Labour Party accepted the outcome of the referendum on withdrawing from the EU, it wants to keep closer economic ties to the bloc and it could try to obstruct crucial parts of the government’s exit-related plans.
Yet, if May softens her stance on withdrawing from the bloc to accommodate pro-Europeans worried about the British economy—including some members of her own Cabinet—she risks a rebellion from leading supporters of the withdrawal.
That would include possible successors, like Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, and David Davis, the Cabinet minister responsible for negotiating Britain’s exit from the EU.
How long May can survive is unclear. George Osborne, the former chancellor of the Exchequer who was fired by May last year and is now a newspaper editor, has described her as a “dead woman walking”.
Few analysts believe that May will be allowed to lead the Conservatives into another election, but there seems little appetite for an immediate contest to replace her.
In recent decades, some weakened governments in Britain have continued longer than expected, after prime ministers appeared to lose authority. That situation befell another Conservative leader, John Major, in 1992, after Britain crashed out of the EU’s exchange rate mechanism—yet, he survived until 1997.
When he finally did seek reelection, however, Major led his Conservative Party to a landslide defeat.
Image credits: AP/Alastair Grant