1 / 11

Minority government in Britain

This article explores the experience of minority government in the UK and other Westminster parliaments, discussing its challenges and potential benefits. It examines examples from Canada, New Zealand, and Scotland, highlighting the role of party dynamics, parliamentary procedures, and the relationship between the executive and legislative branches. The article concludes with lessons for Westminster and how minority government can succeed under certain conditions.

gutshall
Download Presentation

Minority government in Britain

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Minority government in Britain Professor Robert Hazell The Constitution Unit, UCL PSA Parliaments Group conference 24 June 2009

  2. Minority government 1900-2000

  3. UK experience of minority and coalition government • 20 governments in C20 at Westminster • 5 were coalition governments • 5 were minority governments • No experience of coalition government since 1945 • Last experience of minority government 1976-79 • Minority government seen as unstable, ineffective, incoherent and undesirable

  4. Experience in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland • Scotland Lab/Lib Dem coalition govts in 1999 and 2003 SNP minority government since 2007 • Wales Labour minority govt in 1999-2000 and 2005-07 Labour/Lib Dem coalition 2000-03 Labour/Plaid Cymru coalition since 2007 • Northern Ireland Compulsory power sharing coalition, with four parties Led by Ulster Unionist Party/SDLP 1999-2002 Led by Democratic Unionists/Sinn Fein since 2007

  5. Lessons from minority government in other Westminster parliaments • Canada: 10 minority governments in C20, 3 this century • New Zealand: 5 minority governments since 1996, mostly coalitions, or with supply and confidence agreements with minor parties • Scotland: minority government since 2007

  6. Recent Lessons from minority government in Canada • Major parties still hope to gain an overall majority • PM Harper governs in majoritarian way • Controversial requests to Governor General to dissolve Parliament in Sept 2008 and prorogue Parliament in December • Difficulties over what constitutes an issue of confidence • Fractious, uncivilised behaviour in Parliament

  7. Lessons from minority government in New Zealand • Minor party ministers are not bound by collective responsibility, but are bound by confidentiality • Parliament is less executive dominated, but no less party based. Tight whipping and caucusing • Stronger Select Committees, which divide time 50:50 between legislation and inquiries • Legislation has increased, and goes through faster than before

  8. Lessons from minority government in Scotland • SNP government viewed as stable and successful • Little legislation: half previous output • Government has to construct coalition of support for each bill • Scottish Parliament has not filled the gap, despite committees’ power to initiate legislation • Presiding Officer announces in advance how he will cast tied vote • Opposition parties have not wanted to trigger early election. Two thirds threshold for dissolution

  9. Lessons for Westminster? • Minority government strengthens Parliament vis-à-vis the Executive • Government has to construct majorities for each bill • Tighter whipping likely in Commons • Pressures on Speaker: procedural motions, tied votes • Could increase prospects for parliamentary reform, but only if support parties promote that agenda • House of Lords is already chamber with no overall control. Govt defeated in one third of votes in the Lords

  10. Minority government can work if • It has confidence and supply agreements with support parties • It can build legislative coalitions with different parties on different issues • It is not frightened of a snap election, and is doing well in the polls • The opposition parties are in disarray • The PM does not seek to govern in a majoritarian way

  11. For our research on minority and coalition government contact Professor Robert Hazell r.hazell@ucl.ac.uk Akash Paun Mark Chalmers Ben Yong www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit

More Related