The fixed term Parliaments Act and votes of confidence

Norton, Philip

Abstract

The Government in the UK rests for its continuation in office on the confidence of the House of Commons. Until 2011, it was a convention of the constitution that a Government defeated on a motion of confidence resigned or requested the dissolution of Parliament. There were different categories of confidence votes. The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 puts on a statutory basis the conditions for a general election following the loss of an explicitly worded motion of no confidence. Although not intended to do so initially, the provisions of the Act limit the options available to the Prime Minister in the event of a vote of no confidence and in so doing removed a significant power to maximise parliamentary strength in key votes.

Citation

Norton, P. (2016). The fixed term Parliaments Act and votes of confidence. Parliamentary affairs, 69(1), 3-18. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsv003

• Acceptance Date: Jan 23, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Mar 29, 2015
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Jun 28, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 23, 2017
• Journal: Parliamentary affairs
• Print ISSN: 0031-2290
• Electronic ISSN: 1460-2482
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 69
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 3-18
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsv003
• Keywords: Fixed-term parliaments; UK parliament; Votes of confidence
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/472091
• Publisher URL: http://pa.oxfordjournals.org/content/69/1/3.short?rss=1
• Additional Information: This is a description of an article accepted for publication in Parliamentary affairs following peer review. The version of record Philip Norton, The fixed term Parliaments Act and votes of confidence, Parliam Aff (2016) 69 (1): 3-18 first published online March 29, 2015 doi:10.1093/pa/gsv003 is available online at: http://pa.oxfordjournals.org/content/69/1/3.short?rss=1.