Submitted by Faisal Akbar

Semester 3rd Section “A”

Department of Law

Submitted to Sir “Hidayat ur Rahman Sb”

Write a detail note on vote of no confidence against
prime minister in UK?

Defeat of a motion of no confidence (or winning a vote of confidence) does not provide
protection to the government in power for any specific length of time. MPs from any
political party may propose another vote immediately, although are unlikely to do so
due to convention and potential weakening of their own standing.

Explanation
In the United Kingdom, confidence motions are a means of testing the support of the
government (executive) in a legislative body, and for the legislature to remove the
government from office. A confidence motion may take the form of either a vote of
confidence, usually put forward by the government, or a vote of no confidence (or
censure motion usually proposed by the opposition. When such a motion is put to a
vote in the legislature, if a vote of confidence. Is defeated, or a vote of no confidence is
passed, then the incumbent government must resign, or call a general election. It is a
fundamental principle of the British constitution that the government must retain the
Confidence of the legislature, as it is not possible for a government to operate
effectively without. The support of the majority of the people’s representatives At the
national level, this means That the UK government (the cabinet) must retain the
confidence of a majority in the House of Commons. It is possible for a vote of no
confidence to succeed where there is a minority government or a Small majority, or
where there are internal party splits leading to some members of the ruling party voting
against the leaders. Where there is a minority government, the government may seek
agreements or pacts with other parties in order to prevail in the vote and remain in
office. Despite their importance to the constitution, for a long time the rules
surrounding motions of no confidence were dictated solely by convention. Under the
Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, a vote of no confidence had to be passed in a specific
form in order to create the possibility of an early general election. Under the Act, if a
motion of no confidence in the government was passed in express terms, the house
must then adopt a vote of confidence in that same or an alternative government within
14 days, or a general election be held.[4] These practices were ended in 2022, with the
repeal of the 2011 Act. A no-confidence vote was last successfully used on 28 March
1979, when the minority government of James Callaghan was defeated. A no-confidence
vote can have the effect of uniting the ruling party; for this reason such motions are
rarely used and successful motions are even rarer. Before 1979 the last successful
motion of no confidence occurred in 1924. The most recent confidence vote instigated
by the opposition was held on 16 January 2019, with the government prevailing. Defeat
of a motion of no confidence (or winning a vote of confidence) does not provide
protection to the government in power for any specific length of time. MPs from any
political party may propose another vote immediately, although are unlikely to do so
due to convention and potential weakening of their own standing.

How do confidence motions happen?

Motions that express a view about the House’s confidence in the government can come
about in several ways. The opposition can table a no confidence motion directly, or put
down an amendment to an existing government motion. As discussed, the government
can also designate a forthcoming vote ‘a matter of confidence’. A confidence motion
tabled by the official opposition is expected to be given priority by the government for a
debate and vote in the House of Commons. In January 2019, when a labor brought a
confidence motion in Theresa May’s government, it was held the next day. Other parties
might attempt to table confidence motions but there is no convention that these have
to be given priority by the government and they usually do not go to a vote unless the
official opposition seeks to support them. Historically, votes can take different forms.
Erskine may describes them as ‘a motion… expressing lack of confidence in the
Government or otherwise criticising its general conduct’. However, usually and more
recently they would contain the words ‘this House has no confidence in Her Majesty’s
Government’ or similar. As the government makes the initial determination whether the
motion meets the criteria of a vote of confidence, unambiguous wording is less likely to
allow doubt to creep in.

What happens if a government loses a confidence vote?

If a government loses a confidence motion it can either resign in favor of an alternative

government taking office or it can seek a dissolution. Although prime ministers have
many times resigned office in the past, it is more likely now that they would seek a
dissolution rather than hand the reigns to the opposition party. In the last four
occasions when governments have lost confidence motions, they twice led to the
resignation of the government (in 1895 and January 1924) and twice to requests for a
dissolution (October 1924 and March 1979).
Forms of vote of no confidence
Since 1945 there have been three votes of confidence and 23 of no confidence.
Confidence motions fall into three categories:
 Explicit motions initiated by the Government
 Explicit motions initiated by the Opposition
 Motions which can be regarded as issues of confidence because of particular
Circumstances.
 Government
A motion in this category is often effectively a threat of dissolution by the government,
in order to persuade backbench MPs to support a bill. One such threat occurred in 1993
so that “John Major” could pass the Social Chapter of the Maastricht Treaty. In 2022, the
outgoing government Of Boris Johnson called a vote of confidence in itself after
rejecting the wording of a proposed Opposition motion that had signaled no confidence
in both the government and Johnson’s Leadership specifically.

 Opposition
Opposition motions are initiated by the opposition party and often have little chance of
success. By convention, a no-confidence vote takes precedence over normal
Parliamentary business for that day, and will begin with speeches from the Prime
Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, rather than the ministers for the policy area
which may be the concern of the motion. The motion may either profess no confidence
in the Government itself, or no confidence in the particular policies of a government.
Probably the most famous no-confidence motion was on the night of 28 March 1979
when Jim Callaghan’s Labor Government fell from office by one vote, 311– 310, in what
was described by the BBC as one of the most dramatic nights in Westminster’s history.
 Particular circumstances
Although there is no commonly accepted and comprehensive definition of a confidence
motion, It is possible to identify confidence motions from their timing, the speakers and
the terms of the motion. Motions of confidence are supportive of the government
whereas motions of no Confidence are unsupportive of the government. It can be
difficult to distinguish an opposition. No-confidence motion from other opposition
motions critical of Government policy. The term censure motion can also refer to a
category of motion which does not attempt to remove the government.
 List of successful Votes of no Confidence in British
Governments
This a list of successful votes of no confidence in British governments led by prime
ministers of the former Kingdom of Great Britain and the current United Kingdom.
The first such motion of No confidence to defeat ministry was in 1742 against
Robert Walpole, a Whig who served from 1721 to 1742 and was the de facto first
prime minister to hold office. Thereafter there have been 21 votes of confidence
successfully motioned against British governments. The most recent was held
against the Callaghan ministry in March 1979. Following the defeat, Prime
Minister James Callaghan was forced to hold a general election by May; he was
defeated by Margaret thatcher of the Conservative Party. Before the vote in 1979,
the most recent vote of no confidence in a British government was in1924, the
longest interval in British parliamentary history.

 Defeat of the Walpole ministry (1742)

He was the first prime minister of great Britain to resigned after a vote of no
Confidence by the house of common.

 Defeat of the North ministry (1782)

The 1782 vote of no confidence in the government of Lord North was the first
time that a British cabinet was forced to resign after a vote of no confidence in
the House of Commons. Frederick north, Lord North became Prime Minister in
January 1770. After the defeat of the British troops in the Siege of Yorktown,
Henry Seymour Conway, a Whig MP, introduced into Parliament a motion to end
“the further prosecution of offensive warfare” in America. The motion was passed
in the House of Commons by a vote of 234 to 215 on 27 February.
Constitutional practice
Before 2011 and after 2021

If a government wins a confidence motion they are able to remain in office. If a

confidence motion is lost then the Government is obliged to resign or seek a dissolution
of Parliament and call a General Election. Although this is a convention, prior to the
2011 Fixed-term Parliament’s act there was no law which requires that the Government
resign or call a General Election. Modern practice shows dissolution rather than
resignation to be the result of a defeat. The government is only obliged to resign if it
loses a confidence vote, although a significant defeat on a major issue may lead to a
confidence motion. During the period 1945–1970 Governments were rarely defeated in
the House of Commons and the impression grew that if a Government was defeated it
must reverse the decision, seek a vote of confidence, or resign. Brazier argues: “it used
to be the case that a defeat on a major matter had the same effect as if an explicit vote
of confidence had carried” but that a development in constitutional practice has
occurred since the 1970s. Thatcher’s defeat over the Shops Bill 1986 did not trigger a
confidence motion despite being described as ‘a central piece of their legislative
program. The government simply accepted that they could not pass the bill and gave
assurances to Parliament that they would not introduce it. After a defeat on a major
issue of government policy the Government may resign, dissolve Parliament, or seek a
vote of confidence from the House. Recent historical practice has been to seek a vote of
confidence from the House. John Major did this after defeat over the Social Protocols of
the Maastricht Treaty. Defeats on minor issues do not raise any constitutional questions.
A proposed motion of no confidence can force a resignation. For example, in 2009 the
proposed vote of no confidence in the Speaker of the House of Commons forced the
resignation of Michael Martin in the wake of the Parliamentary Expenses Scandal.
Several MPs breached a constitutionally convention and openly called for the
resignation of the Speaker.