confidence-and-supply agreement
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In a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a ruling cabinet to retain power in the
lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...
. 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
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on legislative bills. A
coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
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 Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...
and ministerial roles, and may be expected to hold the government
whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...
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 An appropriation, also known as supply bill or spending bill, is a proposed law that authorizes the expenditure of government funds. It is a bill that sets money aside for specific spending. In some democracies, approval of the legislature is ne ...
, 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's few ways of controlling the monarch.


List of governments currently under a confidence-and-supply agreement


Examples of confidence-and-supply deals


Australia

The Australian Labor Party Gillard Government formed a
minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...
in the hung parliament elected at the 2010 federal election resulting from a confidence-and-supply agreement with three independent MPs and one Green MP.


Canada


Federal

In November 2008, the Liberal Party and the
New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...
(NDP) reached an agreement to form a minority coalition government, with the
Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (BQ; , "Québécois people, Quebecer Voting bloc, Bloc") is a list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty movement, Que ...
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 of Canada, House of Commons, having been determined by the results of the 2021 Canadian federal ...
, 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 agreed to a confidence-and-supply agreement in support of the British Columbia New Democratic Party. The incumbent British Columbia Liberal Party, 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 Brian Alexander Gallant (born April 27, 1982) is a Canadian politician who served as the 33rd premier of New Brunswick from October 7, 2014, until November 9, 2018. Of Acadian and Dutch descent, Gallant practised as a lawyer before winning the Li ...
indicated his intention to resign the premiership and recommend to the lieutenant governor that PC leader
Blaine Higgs Blaine Myron Higgs (born March 1, 1954) is a Canadian politician who is the 34th and current premier of New Brunswick since 2018 and leader of the New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Party (PC Party) since 2016. Higgs graduated from the U ...
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 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 ...
leader David Coon 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 government resigned after a vote of no confidence, and the Ontario Liberal Party formed a government with the support of the Ontario New Democratic Party. The agreement between the two parties was referred to as "The Accord".


Yukon

After the 2021 territorial election resulted in the Yukon Liberal Party and the Yukon Party winning the same number of seats, the third place Yukon New Democratic Party agreed to provide confidence and supply to a Liberal minority government.


India

Third Front national governments were formed in
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and
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with outside support of one of the two major parties, BJP or Congress. The CPI-M gave outside support to the Congress Party from 2004 to 2008, but later withdrew support after the India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement.


Ireland

After the 2016 general election, a minority government was formed by Fine Gael and some independents, with confidence-and-supply ( ga, muinín agus soláthar) support from Fianna Fáil 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 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 The 2020 Irish general election took place on Saturday 8 February, to elect the 33rd Dáil, the lower house of Ireland's parliament. The election was called following the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil by the president, at the request of the Ta ...
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, at the request of Taoiseach
Leo Varadkar Leo Eric Varadkar ( ; born 18 January 1979) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach since December 2022, and previously from 2017 to 2020. He served as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from June 2020 to De ...
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 Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
cabinets being able to govern thanks to confidence and supply agreements with other minor parties. Most famously, the
Andreotti III Cabinet The Andreotti III Cabinet was the 33rd cabinet of the Italian Republic. It held office from 1976 to 1978. It was the first government in the history of the Italian Republic to count among its members a woman, Tina Anselmi (as Minister of Labour) ...
was formed in 1976 thanks to a confidence and supply agreement between the Christian Democrats and the Italian Communist Party, 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, formed in 2011, were technocratic governments which relied on the support of the main parties in Parliament during confidence votes.


Japan

In
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, 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 A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
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 groups 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. Histo ...
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 House of Representatives (Japan), Representat ...
during the 2nd Reshuffled Third Abe Cabinet.


Malaysia

A confidence and supply agreement was signed on 13 September 2021 by Perikatan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan to strengthen political stability amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 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'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 and the Māori Party. A similar arrangement in
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had led to Helen Clark's Labour Party forming a coalition government with the Progressive Party, with support on confidence and supply from
New Zealand First New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winst ...
and United Future. 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 ...
.


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, in a deal which became known as the
Lib-Lab Pact The Liberal–Labour movement refers to the practice of local Liberal associations accepting and supporting candidates who were financially maintained by trade unions. These candidates stood for the British Parliament with the aim of representing ...
. In return, the Labour Party agreed to modest policy concessions for the Liberal Party. In the aftermath of the
2017 general election This national electoral calendar for 2017 lists the national/federal elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 November  ...
which left Theresa May'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 The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...
.


Devolved government

Confidence and supply deals are more frequent in the devolved legislatures of Scotland and Wales due to the use of proportional representation. The
Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...
and Scottish Green Party had a confidence and supply deal in the
Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...
. The Welsh Labour Party and Plaid Cymru had a similar co-operation deal in the Welsh Assembly until October 2017.


References


External links


Example of confidence and supply agreement in New Zealand
{{Coalition Spectrum navbox Political terminology Government finances *