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]
Forms
Since 1945 there have been three votes of confidence and 23 of no confidence.[10]
Confidence motions fall into three categories:
Explicit motions initiated by the Government
Explicit motions initiated by the Opposition
Motions which can be regarded as issues of confidence because of particular circumstances.[5]
Government
A motion in this category is often effectively a threat of dissolution by the government, in order to persuade backbench MPs to support a bill. One such threat occurred in 1993 so that John Major could pass the Social Chapter of the Maastricht Treaty. In 2022, the outgoing government of Boris Johnson called a vote of confidence in itself after rejecting the wording of a proposed opposition motion that had signalled no confidence in both the government and Johnson's leadership specifically.[11]
Opposition
Opposition motions are initiated by the opposition party and often have little chance of success. By convention, a no-confidence vote takes precedence over normal Parliamentary business for that day, and will begin with speeches from the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, rather than the ministers for the policy area which may be the concern of the motion. The motion may either profess no confidence in the Government itself, or no confidence in the particular policies of a government. Probably the most famous no-confidence motion was on the night of 28 March 1979 when Jim Callaghan's Labour Government fell from office by one vote, 311–310,[12] in what was described by the BBC as one of the most dramatic nights in Westminster's history.[13]
Particular circumstances
Although there is no commonly accepted and comprehensive definition of a confidence motion, it is possible to identify confidence motions from their timing, the speakers and the terms of the motion.[5] Motions of confidence are supportive of the government, whereas motions of no confidence are unsupportive of the government. It can be difficult to distinguish an opposition no-confidence motion from other opposition motions critical of government policy. The term censure motion can also refer to a category of motion which does not attempt to remove the government.
With the King's support, the Prime Minister refused to resign. Two more motions of no confidence were passed in the following weeks with smaller majorities. Once he was confident no further motions could be passed, the Prime Minister finally advised King George III to dissolve Parliament, which he did on 25 March 1784.[19]
Motion of no confidence in the First Secretary[101]
26–818
Political crisis in the Assembly continued over constitutional disagreements and failure of Michael's administration to secure funding from the Treasury for EU Objective One funds. Michael later resigned amid a successful second no confidence motion in February 2000.[102]
Michael resigned as First Secretary[k] and Rhodri Morgan was nominated by the Assembly to succeed him before going on to form a new Labour administration and later a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.[102]
Despite a majority voting in favour, the motion failed due to not obtaining cross-community support so Foster continued as First Minister.[103] She later lost the role automatically when her deputy first minister resigned on 10 January 2017.[104]
Non-binding motion of no confidence in the First Minister
27–292
Gething announced he would continue as First Minister due to the non-binding nature of the motion.[106] However, he announced his resignation a month later amid a government crisis.
Constitutional practice
Before 2011 and after 2021
If a government wins a confidence motion they are able to remain in office. If a confidence motion is lost then the Government is obliged to resign or seek a dissolution of Parliament and call a general election. Although this is a convention, prior to the 2011 Fixed-term Parliaments Act there was no law which required that the government resign or call a general election. Modern practice shows dissolution rather than resignation to be the result of a defeat. The government is only obliged to resign if it loses a confidence vote, although a significant defeat on a major issue may lead to a confidence motion.
Brazier argues: "it used to be the case that a defeat on a major matter had the same effect as if an explicit vote of confidence had carried" but that a development in constitutional practice has occurred since the 1970s. Thatcher's defeat over the Shops Bill 1986 did not trigger a confidence motion despite being described as 'a central piece of their legislative programme'. The government simply accepted that they could not pass the bill and gave assurances to Parliament that they would not introduce it.[108]
After a defeat on a major issue of government policy the government may resign, dissolve Parliament, or seek a vote of confidence from the House. Recent historical practice has been to seek a vote of confidence from the House. John Major did this after defeat over the Social Protocol of the Maastricht Treaty.[108] Defeats on minor issues do not raise any constitutional questions.[108]
Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, a passing of a motion of no confidence was one of only two ways in which an early election could occur (the other was a motion to hold an early election passed by at least two-thirds of MPs). Following a successful motion, Parliament must dissolve, unless the motion was overturned within 14 days by the passing of an explicit motion of confidence. This procedure was designed to allow a minority government time to seek the support of other parties (as a formal coalition or with a confidence and supply arrangement) to avoid having to face re-election, or to allow an alternative government to be formed.[109][110]
In principle, the alternative government could be led by any MP who could draw together enough support for a legislative programme that secured a vote of confidence and, by convention, a request from the monarch to form such a government. In practice, it was likely to be the leader, or a senior member, of a party with a significant number of MPs that could achieve this. In turn, they could be expected to bring about an early election using the two-thirds of MPs provision of the Fixed-Term Act to gain a popular mandate for their programme.
^Michael attempted to pre-empt the vote by tendering his resignation to Assembly Presiding Officer Dafydd Elis-Thomas moments before it was held, however he refused to accept Michael's resignation until after the motion was held and passed.
^Barker, George Fisher Russell; Dauglish, Milverton Godfrey (1 January 1886). Historical and Political Handbook. Chapman. Retrieved 15 June 2016 – via Internet Archive.
^ abThomas, Alys; Laffin, Martin (1 January 2001). "The First Welsh Constitutional Crisis: The Alun Michael Resignation". Public Policy and Administration. 16 (1): 18–31. doi:10.1177/095207670101600102 – via SAGE Journals.
