Minority and coalition government

Minority and coalition government

Over the past 30 years the UK has become used to long periods of strong one-party rule, but dramatic changes in the political landscape raise the possibility of a minority or coalition government. What does this mean for the way the UK is governed?

This project, conducted jointly with UCL's Constitution Unit:

  • Examined the experience of minorities and coalitions in other Westminster system countries and the devolved administrations;
  • Assessed the implications of a minority or coalition government for Whitehall and Westminster;
  • Provided advice to senior officials on how to manage in a minority or coalition setting.

Background

We tended to assume that UK politics are dominated by strong, single party governments, but minorities and coalitions are more common than usually accepted. Five elections in the twentieth century produced a hung parliament, while two other Prime Ministers - James Callaghan and John Major - saw their majorities erased during the course of a parliament. The twentieth century also saw three formal coalition governments and the looser Lib-Lab pact of 1977-78.

A hung parliament would be profoundly challenging to ‘business as usual' at Westminster. By looking at experience gained in Scotland, Wales, New Zealand and Canada, we draw out the administrative lessons for Whitehall's senior managers.

Issues to be considered included:

  • The role of caretaker governments following an inconclusive election;
  • Coalition negotiations and government formation, including the role of the civil service in these processes;
  • Making coalition government work, including mechanisms for resolving disputes between partners;
  • Making minority government work, including mechanisms for consulting with opposition parties on policy, legislation and spending.

 

Method

  • We conducted interviews with officials, politicians and other experts in each country so as to identify key constitutional, political and administrative challenges faced in making non-majoritarian government work;
  • We also researched past experience of minority government in Britain, particularly during the Callaghan administration;
  • We then conducted a series of interviews and seminars with senior officials at the UK level to share our evidence base and shape our conclusions;
  • The outputs of this project include a final report, containing our main findings and recommendations, and a set of targeted briefings for particular bodies such as the civil service, Parliament, and the political parties.

Outcomes

By engaging with key officials during the project, we aimed to spur thinking and preparation within government about the issues that may arise in the event of a hung parliament. We also intended to establish the research team as experts in this field, able to provide informed commentary and advice in these circumstances.

Final report - Making Minority Government Work

We presented the findings of this eight month project in the report: Making Minority Government Work: Hung parliaments and the challenges for Westminster and Whitehall (PDF, 3.3MB)

Jointly published by UCL’s Constitution Unit and the Institute for Government, it explores the potential impact of a hung parliament on the British political system, and sets out lessons from other countries and from past experience at Westminster for how to make minority or multi-party government work.

You can also download a presentation given by Professor Robert Hazell on behalf of the Institute for Government and the UCL's Constitution Unit, Understanding Hung Parliaments And How Minority Governments Work (Powerpoint, 901K).

Coalition Government: lessons from overseas

We have republished two Constitution Unit reports written by Dr Ben Seyd that first appeared in 2002 and 2004. Dr Seyd conducted a two year research project to learn the lessons of coalition government from overseas. He visited Denmark, Germany, Ireland and New Zealand, and interviewed 70 politicians, officials and other experts.

We thank Dr Seyd for permission to republish his excellent work. 

We have summarised some of the most relevant practical lessons from Dr Seyd’s reports in our Rough Guide to Coalition Government (PDF, 70KB).

Research Team

The project is led by Professor Robert Hazell of the Constitution Unit and Akash Paun at the Institute for Government, supported by Mark Chalmers, Ben Yong (both Constitution Unit), and Catherine Haddon (Institute for Government).

Email akash.paun@instituteforgovernment.org.uk or r.hazell@ucl.ac.uk