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

2. Minority government

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
Minority government seen as unstable, ineffective, incoherent and undesirable

4. 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 and
Labour/Lib Dem coalition
Labour/Plaid Cymru coalition since 2007
Northern Ireland
Compulsory power sharing coalition, with four parties
Led by Ulster Unionist Party/SDLP
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
Akash Paun
Mark Chalmers
Ben Yong