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

Minority government 1900-2000

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

Experience in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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