A hung parliament makes it easier to hold the Government to account

A victory for the victims of IRA bombs is just one of the democratic benefits of a Government that has to fight for every vote in Parliament

The loss of the Conservative Party’s majority continues to force it to do the right thing (PA)

One of the advantages of a hung parliament is that it forces the Government to justify everything it does. As we report today, this means new hope of compensation for the victims of IRA bombs – because it is harder for Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, to block the setting up of a fund.

This is a complex story about a historical injustice, but it matters. The Government has been reluctant to use assets linked to Muammar Gaddafi, the former Libyan ruler, that have been frozen in London banks to compensate the victims of IRA bombings. Gaddafi’s regime for years supplied the IRA with Semtex explosive that it used in its campaign of terror.

The Independent reveals today that the Foreign Office has given up its attempt to block a bill in the House of Lords – knowing that it would lose the vote. More significantly, the Government would be unable to reverse that defeat in the House of Commons. There, the Government’s majority depends on the support of the 10 Democratic Unionist Party MPs from Northern Ireland – and there is no prospect of their doing anything that could be seen as turning their backs on the victims of IRA terrorism.

Thus the loss of the Government’s majority continues to force it to do the right thing. We can add this small victory to the ditching of plans in the Conservative manifesto to extend academic selection at age 11 and to force pensioners to use the value of their homes to pay for dementia care.

Without a majority, the Government is vulnerable to rebellions by quite small numbers of Conservative MPs or the DUP. There was much agonising among liberals at the time of the deal between the Conservatives and the DUP about the influence it gave to a party with reactionary policies on women’s rights, but in practice there is a majority in the Commons for moderate progressives.

One of the first victories of the new parliament was an amendment proposed by Stella Creasy, the Labour MP, requiring the Government to pay for abortions in England and Wales for Northern Irish women – it was opposed by the DUP but enough Conservative MPs supported it.

Since then the Labour Party has exploited Conservative divisions to force the Government to publish Brexit documents – even ones that had not really existed at the time. On several occasions the Government whips have instructed their charges to abstain in order to avoid a humiliating defeat.

The Independent has long been at the forefront of campaigns to make our democracy work better. But we recognise that now, in a hung parliament, the Government has to be more responsive to many of the people’s concerns. True, it may make it harder to carry out some of the bold policies that the country needs, such as raising taxes.

But if it means Brexit is more difficult and more transparent, and that the Government is forced to do the right thing by the victims of IRA atrocities, then it is a good thing.