In a
parliamentary democracy
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
based on the
Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a
ruling cabinet to retain power in the
lower house.
A confidence-and-supply agreement is one whereby a party or independent members of parliament will support the government in
motions of confidence and
appropriation or budget (supply) votes, by either voting in favour or abstaining. However, parties and independent members normally retain the right to otherwise vote in favour of their own policies or on
conscience on
legislative bills.
A
coalition government is a more formal arrangement than a confidence-and-supply agreement, in that members from junior parties (i.e., parties other than the largest) gain positions in the
cabinet and
ministerial roles, and may be expected to hold the government
whip on passing legislation.
Confidence
In most parliamentary democracies, members of a parliament can propose a motion of confidence or of no confidence in the government or executive. The results of such motions show how much support the government currently has in parliament. Should a motion of confidence fail, or a motion of no confidence pass, the government will usually either resign and allow other politicians to form a new government, or call an election.
Supply
Most parliamentary democracies require an annual state budget, an
appropriation bill, or occasional financial measures to be passed by parliament in order for a government to pay its way and enact its policies. The failure of a supply bill is in effect the same as the failure of a confidence motion. In early modern England, the withholding of funds was one of
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
's few ways of controlling the
monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...
.
List of governments currently under a confidence-and-supply agreement
Examples of confidence-and-supply deals
Australia
The
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...
Gillard Government formed a
minority government in the
hung parliament
A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisla ...
elected at the
2010 federal election resulting from a confidence-and-supply agreement with three
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
MPs and one
Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...
MP.
Canada
Federal
In November 2008, the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
and the
New Democratic Party (NDP) reached an agreement to form a minority coalition government, with the
Bloc Québécois having signed a confidence agreement to support the proposed coalition. However, the proposed coalition and confidence agreement fell apart in January 2009, as a result of an ensuing
parliamentary dispute.
In 2022, a few months into the
44th Canadian Parliament
The 44th Canadian Parliament is the session of the Parliament of Canada which began on 22 November 2021, with the membership of the House of Commons, having been determined by the results of the 2021 federal election held on 20 September. Parl ...
, the NDP agreed to a confidence-and-supply agreement with the governing Liberal Party, to continue the
Liberal minority government. The deal will keep the minority Liberal government in power until 2025, with the NDP agreeing to support the government on confidence motions and budget votes. In exchange, the Liberal government is understood to have pledged to advance work on key NDP policy priorities on dental care, pharmaceutical drugs, and affordable childcare.
British Columbia
After the
2017 British Columbia provincial election, the
Green Party of British Columbia
The Green Party of British Columbia, often simply called the BC Greens, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1983 and is based in Victoria. The party won its first seat in the Legislative Assembly of Bri ...
agreed to a confidence-and-supply agreement in support of the
British Columbia New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party of British Columbia (BC NDP) is a social-democratic provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada.
As of 2017, it governs the province. It is the British Columbia provincial arm of the federal New Democrati ...
. The incumbent
British Columbia Liberal Party
The British Columbia Liberal Party, often shortened to the BC Liberals, is a centre-right provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition. Subsequent to the 2020 British Columbia genera ...
, which held a plurality of seats, briefly tried to form a government, but was immediately defeated in a confidence vote by the NDP and Greens.
New Brunswick
On 2 November 2018 (less than two months after the
2018 New Brunswick general election
The 2018 New Brunswick general election was held on September 24, 2018, to elect the 49 members of the 59th New Brunswick Legislature, the governing house of the province of New Brunswick, Canada.
Two smaller parties — the People's Alliance a ...
) the
legislative assembly voted 25-23 for a motion, introduced by the
Progressive Conservatives, to amend the throne speech to
declare no confidence in the government. Subsequently, Premier
Brian Gallant indicated his intention to resign the premiership and recommend to the lieutenant governor that PC leader
Blaine Higgs be given the mandate to form a minority government: "I will go see the lieutenant governor at her earliest convenience to inform her that I will be resigning as premier, and I will humbly suggest to her honour to allow the leader of the Conservative Party to attempt to form a government and attempt to gain the confidence of the house."
People's Alliance leader
Kris Austin
Kris Austin (born 1979) is the former leader of the People's Alliance of New Brunswick and current member of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick and an MLA in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick
A legislature is ...
said he would work with the new government "in the areas we agree on," and reiterated his promise to support the Progressive Conservatives on confidence votes for a period of 18 months.
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
leader
David Coon
David Charles Coon (born 28 October 1956 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in the 2014 provincial election to represent the provincial electoral district of Fredericton S ...
said he would start working with the Tories in an attempt to ensure his party's issues were on the government's agenda.
Ontario
Twenty-two days after the
1985 Ontario provincial election, the
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (french: Parti progressiste-conservateur de l'Ontario), often shortened to the Ontario PC Party or simply the PCs, colloquially known as the Tories, is a centre-right political party in Ontario, Canada ...
government resigned after a
vote of no confidence
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
, and the
Ontario Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; french: Parti libéral de l'Ontario, PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by interim leader John Fraser since August 2022.
The party espouses the principles of li ...
formed a government with the support of the
Ontario New Democratic Party
The Ontario New Democratic Party (french: link=no, Nouveau Parti démocratique de l'Ontario; abbr. ONDP or NDP) is a social-democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition in Ontario following th ...
. The agreement between the two parties was referred to as "The Accord".
Yukon
After the
2021 territorial election resulted in the
Yukon Liberal Party
The Yukon Liberal Party (french: Parti libéral du Yukon) is a political party in the territory of Yukon, Canada. The party is not organizationally linked to the federal Liberal Party of Canada in any official manner.
Sandy Silver, MLA for Klond ...
and the
Yukon Party
The Yukon Party (french: Parti du Yukon) is a conservative political party in Yukon, Canada. It is the successor to the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party.
Formation
With Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative federal go ...
winning the same number of seats, the third place
Yukon New Democratic Party
The Yukon New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique du Yukon) is a social-democratic political party in the Yukon territory of Canada.
The Yukon NDP first formed the government of the territory under the leadership of Tony P ...
agreed to provide confidence and supply to a Liberal minority government.
India
Third Front national governments were formed in
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...
and
1996 with outside support of one of the two major parties,
BJP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mo ...
or
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
.
The
CPI-M
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the nat ...
gave outside support to the Congress Party from 2004 to 2008, but later withdrew support after the
India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement
The 123 Agreement signed between the United States of America and the Republic of India is known as the U.S.–India Civil Nuclear Agreement or Indo-US nuclear deal. The framework for this agreement was a July 18, 2005, joint statement by then ...
.
Ireland
After the
2016 general election,
a minority government was formed by
Fine Gael
Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil ...
and some independents, with confidence-and-supply ( ga, muinín agus soláthar) support from
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
in return for a published set of policy commitments from the government. Fianna Fáil abstains on confidence and supply votes, but reserves the right to vote for or against any bill proposed in the
Dáil or Seanad. The deal was to last until the end of 2018, with the possibility of renewal before then to extend it to the five-year maximum term of a Dáil. On 12 December 2018, Fianna Fáil Leader
Micheál Martin
Micheál Martin (; born 1 August 1960) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who is serving as Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence since December 2022. He served as Taoiseach from 2020 to 2022 and has been Leader of ...
said his party would guarantee the Government can continue throughout 2019 and that an election might be held early in 2020.
The
2020 Irish general election was held on Saturday 8 February 2020. The election was called following the dissolution of the
32nd Dáil
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...
by the
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
, at the request of
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...
Leo Varadkar on 14 January 2020.
Italy
In Italy, the equivalent of confidence and supply is called "external support" ( it, appoggio esterno). Starting from the 50's through the 70's there were various examples of
Christian Democratic cabinets being able to govern thanks to confidence and supply agreements with other minor parties. Most famously, the
Andreotti III Cabinet was formed in 1976 thanks to a confidence and supply agreement between the Christian Democrats and the
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy.
The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) ...
, referred to as "the historic compromise" ( it, il compromesso storico), in which the Communist Party agreed not to vote against the government during confidence votes.
The
Dini Cabinet
The Dini government was the 52nd government of the Italian Republic. It was the second and last cabinet of the XII Legislature. It held office from 17 January 1995 to 17 May 1996, a total of 486 days, or 1 year and 4 months. It was the Italian R ...
, formed in 1995, and the
Monti Cabinet
The Monti government was the sixty-first government of Italy and was announced on 16 November 2011. This Government of Experts, Experts' cabinet was composed of independents, three of whom were women and was formed as an interim government. The ...
, formed in 2011, were
technocratic governments which relied on the support of the main parties in Parliament during confidence votes.
Japan
In
Japan, the equivalent of a confidence and supply arrangement is called . The latest such agreement was made after the 1996 House of Representatives election between the
Second Hashimoto Cabinet
The Second Hashimoto Cabinet governed Japan from November 1996 to July 1998 under the leadership of Ryutaro Hashimoto.
Political background
Hashimoto had become Prime Minister in January 1996 at the head of a three-party coalition, and was return ...
, an
LDP single-party government somewhat short of majorities in both houses, and two parties which had formed the governing coalition with the LDP until the election: the
JSP and
''Shintō Sakigake'' (NPH/NPS/Sakigake). By 1997, the LDP had gained a House of Representatives majority of its own through accessions (see
New Frontier Party) and was hoping to regain full parliamentary control in the 1998 House of Councillors election. Instead, the cooperation agreement was ultimately terminated while the government lost seats in the 1998 election, leaving clear control to the opposition, a so-called
"Twisted Diet". The Hashimoto Cabinet resigned to give way for a
new cabinet led by prime minister Keizō Ōbuchi which entered formal negotiations with other parties to form a
coalition government by January 1999 (First Reshuffled Obuchi Cabinet).
There is another implicit form of cooperation where (usually very small) parties which are not part of the cabinet join one of the ruling parties in joint
parliamentary group
A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council.
Parliamenta ...
s in one or both houses of the National Diet and vote with the government. A recent example were the joint LDP groups with the
Party for Japanese Kokoro
The , officially the , was a Japanese political party. It was formed as the on 1 August 2014 by a group of Diet members led by Shintarō Ishihara. The party adopted its final name in December 2015, and ended up dissolving in November 2018.
Hist ...
and
New Party Daichi
The New Party Daichi (新党大地 ''Shintō Daichi'') is a Japanese political party. The party works based on jurisdiction and administrative divisions. The party's leader is Muneo Suzuki, a former Representative for the Liberal Democratic P ...
during the 2nd Reshuffled Third Abe Cabinet.
Malaysia
A confidence and supply agreement was signed on 13 September 2021 by
Perikatan Nasional
The National Alliance ( ms, Perikatan Nasional; abbreviation, abbrev: PN) is a political coalition composed of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU), Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) and Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (GERAKAN). This coa ...
and
Pakatan Harapan
The Alliance of Hope ( ms, Pakatan Harapan; abbrev: PH; stylized as HARAPAN) is a Malaysian political coalition consisting of centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has been the ...
to strengthen political stability amid the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. This is the first such agreement signed to ensure
bipartisan cooperation.
New Zealand
In New Zealand, confidence and supply arrangements are common due to the
MMP system used in the country. The parties providing confidence and supply have a more prominent role than in other countries, with MPs from the support parties often being appointed to
ministerial portfolios outside of Cabinet. New Zealand codified the procedures it used to form these Governments in its Cabinet Manual.
John Key
Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to 2016. After resigning from bo ...
's
National Party administration formed a minority government in
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
thanks to a confidence-and-supply agreement with the
ACT,
United Future
United Future New Zealand, usually known as United Future, was a centrist political party in New Zealand. The party was in government between 2005 and 2017, first alongside Labour (2005–2008) and then supporting National (2008–2017).
U ...
and the
Māori Party
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
.
A similar arrangement in
2005 had led to
Helen Clark
Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...
's
Labour Party forming a coalition government with the
Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to:
Active parties
* Progressive Party, Brazil
* Progressive Party (Chile)
* Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus
* Dominica Progressive Party
* Progressive Party (Iceland)
* Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...
, with support on confidence and supply from
New Zealand First and
United Future
United Future New Zealand, usually known as United Future, was a centrist political party in New Zealand. The party was in government between 2005 and 2017, first alongside Labour (2005–2008) and then supporting National (2008–2017).
U ...
. After the
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
election, National re-entered confidence-and-supply agreements with United Future, the ACT Party, and the Māori Party. In 2017, despite National winning more votes than Labour in the election, New Zealand First chose to enter coalition with Labour to help them change the government, with support on confidence and supply from the left-wing
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
.
United Kingdom
Between 1977 and 1978,
Jim Callaghan's Labour Party stayed in power thanks to a confidence-and-supply agreement with the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
, in a deal which became known as the
Lib-Lab Pact. In return, the Labour Party agreed to modest policy concessions for the Liberal Party.
In the aftermath of the
2017 general election which left
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...
's
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
without a majority,
a confidence-and-supply agreement was agreed with the
Democratic Unionist Party.
Devolved government
Confidence and supply deals are more frequent in the devolved legislatures of Scotland and Wales due to the use of
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
. The
Scottish National Party and
Scottish Green Party
The Scottish Greens (also known as the Scottish Green Party; gd, Pàrtaidh Uaine na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Green Pairtie) are a green political party in Scotland. The party has seven MSPs in the Scottish Parliament as of May 2021. As of the 20 ...
had a confidence and supply deal in the
Scottish Parliament. The
Welsh Labour Party
Welsh Labour ( cy, Llafur Cymru) is the branch of the United Kingdom Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears won a plurality of the Welsh vote at every UK general election since 192 ...
and
Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom.
Plaid wa ...
had a similar co-operation deal in the
Welsh Assembly
The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh ...
until October 2017.
References
External links
Example of confidence and supply agreement in New Zealand
{{Coalition Spectrum navbox
Political terminology
Government finances
*