Confidence and supply

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As a confidence and supply (literally translated as confidence and supply ) is in Westminster systems refers to a form of government in which opposition MPs (whether members of a party or independent) a government in confidence and household Surveys - usually in the context of a formal agreement - support. Governments that rely on support for confidence and supply are almost always minority governments and the result of so-called hung parliaments in previous elections.

To the subject

There is no German equivalent of the term confidence and supply , also because there is no one hundred percent equivalent of confidence and supply agreements in German-speaking countries. The term comes from the so-called confidence votes in Westminster systems (questions of trust or votes of no confidence ) and supply bills . Supply bills are the approval of parliament (in bicameral systems only the lower house) on budget and tax issues that do not exist in the German-speaking countries. In the German-language reporting, the English term is mostly used or such an agreement is referred to as a "tolerance agreement". Such alliances are incorrectly referred to as coalitions.

Confidence and supply must be differentiated from the concept of minority government : a minority government can rely on a confidence-and-supply agreement, but it can also rely on changing majorities without formally cooperating with opposition MPs. Majority governments on a confidence-and-supply basis are also possible, in which a government secures the approval of opposition mandates for confidence and supply bills despite a parliamentary majority in order, for example, to prevent dissenters from within the faction if there is a narrow majority. Majority governments with confidence-and-supply support are much rarer, however.

In contrast to a coalition government, the MPs who tolerate the government are usually not involved in government work and explicitly reserve the right to vote against the executive in other votes.

The example of the Australian government after the parliamentary elections in 2016 is suitable for explaining the various terms: It was a coalition government of several parties, which, however, secured the support of oppositional independents for confidence and supply immediately after the election due to an unclear majority. As a result of the change in the parliamentary composition, this government was a minority government without a majority from autumn 2018, but was still supported by non-party members according to confidence and supply and thus had a working majority .

Confidence and supply in practice

Australia

After the parliamentary elections in 2010 there was a hung parliament. Both the ruling Labor Party around Julia Gillard and the conservative opposition coalition of the Liberal Party around Tony Abbott achieved 72 seats, four fewer than would be necessary for a majority. In subsequent negotiations with independents and third parties (so-called crossbenchers ), Gillard was able to secure the support of three non-party members and one Green, while Abbott was supported by a member of the National Party and an independent party. Gillard's Labor Minority Government was replaced by a minority government led by Kevin Rudd in June 2013 , and Abbott's conservative alliance was able to win an absolute majority in parliament in the parliamentary elections in September 2013.

In the 2016 elections , days after the actual election day in various constituencies, no winners had been declared, so that the Conservative Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull negotiated with independents despite the possible continuation of a majority government. On July 10, 2016, he declared that enough MPs would support his coalition on a confidence-and-supply basis for the Liberal Party to continue to govern. After counting all constituencies, the elections ultimately resulted in a majority for the coalition government, but through by-elections and party conversions it lost its parliamentary majority in 2018, so that it was continued as a minority government on a confidence-and-supply basis until the 2019 elections .

In Queensland from 2015 to 2017 a laboratory minority government ruled under Annastacia Palaszczuk on a confidence-and-supply basis. After an early election, the Labor Party was able to continue to govern with its own majority, without having to rely on the support of cross-researchers.

Ireland

Since the general election in 2016, Independents and Fianna Fáil have been supporting a Fine Gael minority government on a confidence-and-supply basis.

Canada

Although minority governments in Canada are quite common at the national level - most recently in 2006–2011 under the leadership of Stephen Harper and since 2019 under the leadership of Justin Trudeau - so far there has been no government based on confidence and supply.

At the provincial and territorial level, two minority governments are currently relying on confidence and supply: in British Columbia , the NDP has been ruling with the support of the Greens since 2017, and the Progressive Conservative Party in New Brunswick since 2018 with the support of the People's Alliance and the Greens.

United Kingdom

The Lib-Lab Pact from 1978 to 1979 was the first practical implementation of a confidence-and-supply government in the UK. The pact between the Labor Party and the Liberal Party failed after just over a year.

In the 2017 general election , the Tories, headed by Theresa May, lost their majority, but opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn did not have enough MPs on his side to become Prime Minister himself. The conservatives then negotiated with the Northern Irish right-wing Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which May promised confidence-and-supply support. While the DUP always voted unanimously against the Brexit deal Mays, it always supported the Tories in motions of no confidence. After Boris Johnson replaced May in July 2019, the minority government lost its working majority in September 2019 after by-elections and parliamentary resignations.

Since the loss of the absolute majority of the Scottish National Party (SNP) after the parliamentary elections in Scotland in 2016 , the SNP is dependent on the support of the Scottish Green Party for confidence and supply.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b 'Confidence and supply': what does it mean and how will it work for the new government? , The Guardian, June 11, 2017, accessed September 16, 2019
  2. ↑ a b c d May announces agreement with Northern Irish DUP , Spiegel Online from June 11, 2017, accessed: June 16, 2019
  3. ↑ Q&A: A guide to the DUP-Tory deal one year onP , BBC June 26, 2018, accessed: June 16, 2019
  4. ↑ Supply bills , Parliament.uk, accessed: September 17, 2019
  5. ↑ Die Königinnenmacherin , FAZ from June 12, 2018, accessed: September 16, 2019
  6. ↑ Great Britain: The Younger the Generation, the Fewer Conservatives , Telepolis October 4, 2018, accessed: September 17, 2019
  7. ↑ The Inferno of Grenfell Tower , TAZ June 15, 2018, accessed: September 17, 2019
  8. ^ Coalition with Northern Irish DUP is available , tageblatt.lu from June 26, 2017, accessed: September 17, 2019
  9. ↑ a b c Election 2016: What does offering 'supply and confidence' actually mean? , ABC of July 7, 2016, accessed: June 16, 2019
  10. ↑ confidence and supply , Collins Dictionary, accessed June 16, 2019
  11. ↑ Phelps vow to support Liberals on confidence and supply , The Australian of October 14, 2018, accessed: September 16, 2019
  12. ↑ Queensland Election: Peter Wellington supports Labor to govern , Brisbane Times, February 15, 2015, accessed September 17, 2019
  13. ↑ Review of Confidence and Supply Agreement under way , RTE, October 25, 2018, accessed: September 16, 2019
  14. ↑ 2017 Confidence and Supply Agreement between the BC Green Caucus and the BC New Democrat Caucus , NDP BC Caucus, accessed September 17, 2019
  15. ↑ People's Alliance agrees to support a PC government in NB 'bill by bill' , CBC, September 28, 2018, accessed: September 17, 2019
  16. ^ Brian Gallant's minority government defeated after losing confidence vote , CBC, November 2, 2018, accessed September 17, 2019
  17. ^ Explainer: what is a confidence-and-supply government? , The Conversation of April 27, 2015, accessed: September 16, 2019
  18. ↑ Brexit negotiators agree on declaration , Phoenix, November 22, 2018, accessed: September 16, 2019