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Select committee: Constitution Committee

Constitutional implications of coalition government

Closed Opened 8 Jul 2013 Closed 8 Jul 2013

Constitution Committee Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Inquiry scope (the committee's words)
In recent decades the nature of party politics in the UK has changed considerably. The 2010 general election produced a hung parliament and the first peacetime coalition government since the 1930's. It may be that government otherwise than by a single party with a Commons majority will become more common in future; the constitutional implications of this change, however, have not been fully explored. The Constitution Committee conducted an inquiry into the constitutional implications of coalition government. Report: Constitutional implications of coalition government Evidence volume: Constitutional implications of coalition government Government response: Constitutional implications of coalition government Hansard: Read debate on the constitutional implications of coalition government, 13 May 2014

Where it stands

The inquiry is closed, opened 8 July 2013.

The committee has published 1 report, most recently 5th Report - Constitutional implications of coalition government on 12 February 2014.

The government's response

Published 1 December 2014.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government agrees with several of the Committee's recommendations, including that 2010 should not be a binding template, that there should be no investiture vote and that collective responsibility should continue under coalition, while stating that other matters are for the Prime Minister, the government of the day or the House of Commons.

  • On investiture, the Government "agrees that there is no need for an investiture vote for a Prime Minister after an election", saying it would be "a significant change" and "inappropriate in a system of Cabinet government".
  • On collective responsibility, it agrees it "should continue to apply when there is a coalition government". On a process for setting it aside, it says "it is for the government of the day to decide".
  • On civil service support, the Prime Minister "has authorised" support for government-formation negotiations "on similar lines as in 2010" should the need arise in 2015.
  • On the Salisbury-Addison convention, it considers that it "continues to apply as before" and "applies to manifesto bills". On access to previous administrations' papers, it agrees the convention should be retained and says the guidance "will be updated" for coalitions.

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Reports

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