In parliamentary democracies based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply is an arrangement under which a minority government (one which does not control a majority in the legislature) receives the support of one or more parties or independent MPs on confidence votes and the state budget ("supply"). On issues other than those outlined in the confidence and supply agreement, non-government partners to the agreement are not bound to support the government on any given piece of legislation.[1][2]
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 are generally expected to hold the government whip on passing legislation.
In most parliamentary democracies, members of a parliament can propose a motion of confidence[3] 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.
Most parliamentary democracies require an annual state budget, an appropriation bill, also called supply 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's few ways of controlling the monarch.
List of governments currently under a confidence-and-supply agreement
Following the 2024 Australian Capital Territory election, the ACT Labor Party party reached 10 out of 13 seats required for a majority, with the ACT Greens holding the balance of power with 4 seats. Unlike the previous three elections, Labor and the Greens did not enter into a coalition government. Instead, the Greens pledged to provide confidence and supply to a minority Labor government.[5][6]
Canada
Federal
In November 2008, the Liberal Party 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.[7][8]
In 2022, a few months into the 44th Canadian Parliament, the NDP agreed to a confidence-and-supply agreement with the governing Liberal Party, to continue the Liberal minority government. The deal was intended to 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 pledged to advance work on key NDP policy priorities on dental care, pharmaceutical drugs, and affordable childcare.[9] NDP leader Jagmeet Singh announced the early termination of the agreement on 4 September 2024.[10]
The NDP and Green Party announced on 13 December 2024 that they had concluded a confidence and supply agreement, the 2024 Co-operation and Responsible Government Accord, after the NDP won a slim 1-seat majority government a few months earlier in the 2024 provincial election.[14] The agreement will have the Green Party support the NDP government on all confidence votes for a term of four years, subject to annual renewal, in exchange for cooperation on shared policy goals like expanding health care funding and public transit.[15][16]
New Brunswick
On 2 November 2018 (less than two months after the 2018 New Brunswick general election) 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 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 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.[17]
After the 2016 general election, a minority government was formed by Fine Gael and some independents, with confidence and supply (Irish: muinín agus soláthar[21]) support from Fianna Fáil in return for a published set of policy commitments from the government.[22] Fianna Fáil abstained on confidence and supply votes, but reserved the right to vote for or against any bill proposed in the Dáil or Seanad. The deal lasted until the 32nd Dáil was dissolved on 14 January 2020 for a general election to be held in February 2020.[23][24]
Italy
In Italy, the equivalent of confidence and supply is called "external support" (Italian: appoggio esterno). Starting from the 1950s through the 1970s 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 with a confidence and supply agreement between the Christian Democrats and the Italian Communist Party, referred to as "the historic compromise" (Italian: il compromesso storico), in which the Communist Party agreed not to vote against the government during confidence votes.
In Japan, the equivalent of a confidence and supply arrangement is called "extra-cabinet cooperation" (閣外協力, kakugai kyōryoku). The latest such agreement was made after the 1996 House of Representatives election between the Second Hashimoto Cabinet, 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 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 and New Party Daichi during the 2nd Reshuffled Third Abe Cabinet.
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.[26] New Zealand codified the procedures it used to form these Governments in its Cabinet Manual.[27]
John Key's National Party administration formed a minority government in 2008 thanks to a confidence-and-supply agreement with the ACT, United Future and the Māori Party.[28] A similar arrangement in 2005 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 and United Future. After the 2014 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.[27]
United Kingdom
Between 1977 and 1978, Jim Callaghan'sLabour 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. In return, the Labour Party agreed to modest policy concessions for the Liberal Party.[29][30]
^Otherwise, when it is proposed by the Government itself upon a piece of legislation, "the Chambers are enslaved in the exercise of their principal function just because it was thought that their being master of the fiduciary relationship were to be reaffirmed on each bill": Argondizzo, Domenico; Buonomo, Giampiero (April 2014). "Spigolature intorno all'attuale bicameralismo e proposte per quello futuro". Mondoperaio.net. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
^Rodgers, Emma (7 September 2010). "Labor clings to power". ABC News Online. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
^Paun, Akash; Hibben, Ashley (June 2017). "Supplying confidence"(PDF). www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk. Institute for Government. p. 2. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
