5th Report - Constitutional implications of coalition government

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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