In the United Kingdom, confidence motions are a means of testing the support of the government (executive) in a legislative body, and for the legislature to remove the government from office. A confidence motion may take the form of either a vote of confidence, usually put forward by the government, or a vote of no confidence (or censure motion[1]), usually proposed by the opposition. When such a motion is put to a vote in the legislature, if a vote of confidence is defeated, or a vote of no confidence is passed, then the incumbent government must resign, or call a general election.[2]
It is a fundamental principle of the British constitution that the government must retain the confidence of the legislature, as it is not possible for a government to operate effectively without the support of the majority of the people's representatives.[3] At the national level, this means that the UK government (the Cabinet) must retain the confidence of a majority in the House of Commons.
It is possible for a vote of no confidence to succeed where there is a minority government or a small majority, or where there are internal party splits leading to some members of the ruling party voting against its leaders. Where there is a minority government, the government may seek agreements or pacts with other parties in order to prevail in the vote and remain in office.
Despite their importance to the constitution, for a long time the rules surrounding motions of no confidence were dictated solely by convention. Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, a vote of no confidence had to be passed in a specific form in order to create the possibility of an early general election. Under the Act, if the House of Commons passed a motion of no confidence in the government in express terms, the House must then adopt a vote of confidence in that same or an alternative government within 14 days, or a general election would be held.[4] These practices were ended in 2022, with the repeal of the 2011 Act.
A no-confidence vote was last successfully used on 28 March 1979, when the minority government of James Callaghan was defeated.[5] A no-confidence vote can have the effect of uniting the ruling party; for this reason such motions are rarely used and successful motions are even rarer.[6] Before 1979 the last successful motion of no confidence occurred in 1924.[7] The most recent confidence vote instigated by the opposition was held on 16 January 2019, with the government prevailing.[8]
Defeat of a motion of no confidence (or winning a vote of confidence) does not provide protection to the government in power for any specific length of time. MPs from any political party may propose another vote immediately, although are unlikely to do so due to convention and potential weakening of their own standing.[9]
- ^ "Censure motions". BBC News. 13 August 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
- ^ Haddon, Dr Catherine. "The (Not So) Fixed-term Parliaments Act". The Institute for Government. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
- ^ http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/m07.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Kelly, Richard. "Confidence motions". House of Commons Library.
- ^ "Confidence Motions" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 April 2010. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
- ^ "Accountability of Government". Archived from the original on 8 October 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "May calls on MPs from all parties to 'put self-interest aside'". The Guardian. 17 January 2019. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
- ^ "How does a vote of no confidence work? How government can be toppled in 14 days – Mirror Online". Daily Mirror. 28 August 2019.