I’m sure by now a lot of people have heard that the Tories intend to form a working agreement with the DUP, a party with a history of homophobia, climate change denial, terrorism links and an assault on female rights. As is pretty much par for the course these days, this can all seem very scary, especially to those people who have been struggling to get by under a Tory government.
But! The important thing to remember is combined, these two parties have a majority of two seats. That is not a strong and stable government. That is barely a government at all. What this means in practical terms is that if May’s government wants to put some absolutely heinous bill through Parliament - and there’s a fair chance… - and everyone else outside her coalition voted against it, she would only need three members of her own party to back down in order to lose the vote. And there’s plenty in the Tory party right now who are not happy with Theresa May. There’s also some Tory MPs who only got back into power by the skin of their teeth (hello Zac Goldsmith) and they are not going to want to vote in anything that damages their constituents lest they lose what little majority they have.
So when government opens again and shit starts getting real, much as US tumblr has urged Americans to put pressure on their representatives, do the same for your MPs. If you have a Tory MP who only got in by a small minority, remind them of how tenuous their position is. Hell, if you have a Tory MP who has an ok-ish voting record, encourage them to stick to their guns. Remember that the election turned out the way that it did because of the staggering number of youth voters, and get involved.
(Non-UK followers very much encouraged to reblog!)
https://www.writetothem.com has an automated system that makes writing to your MP INCREDIBLY EASY!
Also, I am old enough to remember a minority Conservative government propped up by Unionist votes - we had one in 1996-7. It was laughably weak. Pay attention to the Queen’s Speech, identify the stuff you don’t want to happen, hammer your MPs about it (or encourage them if they’re opposition MPs).
