Plotting a roadmap through the constitutional issues, and setting the situation in its historical context, this June 2017 briefing paper highlights and explains key parliamentary dates, events and procedures that shape the process of forming and sustaining a minority government, focusing on the 2017 case.

The fundamental principle at the heart of our parliamentary democracy is that the government must command the confidence of the House of Commons. In the event of a hung Parliament, where no party secures an outright majority, the arithmetic presents politicians with a conundrum: who commands MPs’ confidence, and should therefore govern?

The answer to this question is determined through a complex nexus of constitutional conventions, laws and precedents, party political calculations and gauging of the public mood. Guidance and rules exist to help resolve who should govern, including in the form of the Cabinet Manual and the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act.

This June 2017 briefing paper addresses how a government is formed and then sustained in office when the House of Commons is hung, focusing on the 2017 situation. It also looks at how a minority government might operate in Parliament, focusing on the impact it may have on parliamentary process and procedure.

Table of contents

Introduction: Minority government in context

  • Historical comparisons and precedents

Part 1: Forming a government

  • What does ‘command confidence’ mean?
  • The incumbent Prime Minister: stay or go?
  • When will Parliament meet?
  • The State Opening of Parliament: will the Queen attend?
  • The Queen’s Speech debate: confidence of the House?
  • Will there be a second general election?
  • What difference does the Fixed Term Parliaments Act make?
  • Seats vs votes: what counts?
  • An alternative party leader / Prime Minister?
  • How long can be taken to form a government?

Part 2: Parliamentary procedure: help or hindrance?

  • Does it matter if votes are lost?
  • What about the House of Lords?
  • Will minority government mean less legislation?
  • Will the Speaker’s casting vote influence decisions?
  • Managing time: potential problems ahead
  • The establishment and composition of select committees
  • The fiscal maze
  • Delegated legislation: an increase in deferrals and withdrawals?
  • Accountability and transparency

Enjoy reading this? Please consider sharing it

Latest

Select committee panel (blurred)
blog / journal / 08.11.19

Select Committee development and reform: turning points over 40 years

Select committee reform over the last 40 years has been a stop-go process. Here, the Clerk of the Liaison Committee during its recent 40th anniversary inquiry traces the phases in the story and identifies the set of factors that seem to work for or against reform each time.

Select Committee development and reform: turning points over 40 years
Foreign Affairs select committee holds session
blog / journal / 08.11.19

Select Committees 40 years on: wider still and wider may their bounds be set?

A former Clerk of several House of Commons select committees looks back over 30 years at how the tempo of their work has changed, and asks whether the increase in their resources and activities can or should continue indefinitely.

Select Committees 40 years on: wider still and wider may their bounds be set?
School pupils in an assembly with their hands up.
projects

Mock Elections 2019

Join thousands of young people across the country in one of the oldest and largest civic engagement projects anywhere in the world. Our free resources provide all the materials and guidance you need to recreate the excitement and drama of a real election.

Mock Elections 2019
The House of Commons debating the Withdrawal Agreement during the Saturday-sitting on 19 October, 2019
media / coverage

Even with a majority, getting Brexit done on deadline will be no mean feat

Holding a general election only six weeks before the new end-January Brexit deadline, and with a recess to fit in too, could mean the new Parliament facing a tight timetable. The challenge will be especially great for MPs elected for the first time on 12 December.

Even with a majority, getting Brexit done on deadline will be no mean feat
Houses of Parliament aerial view
journal

Parliamentary Affairs: special issue on ‘40 years of departmental select committees in the House of Commons’ (vol 72, issue 4, 2019)

To mark the 40th anniversary of the creation of departmental select committees, this special issue of Parliamentary Affairs draws together contibutions from House of Commons officials and leading academics on the past, present and future of one of the most significant reforms to the UK Parliament.

Parliamentary Affairs: special issue on ‘40 years of departmental select committees in the House of Commons’ (vol 72, issue 4, 2019)
Prev
Next