Minority Governments in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Abstract This chapter shows how the office-seeking goals of the Conservative and Labour Parties interact with those of smaller policy-seeking parties to ensure that minority government is the preferred option in minority situations in the UK. The chapter examines two types of minority situation: first, when no party wins a majority in an election and second, when the governing party loses its majority between elections. We show that the same dynamics that see minority governments form in the aftermath of an election also allow governing parties to stay in office after losing their majority. The electoral dominance of the two main parties ensures the largest party often only needs support of one other party, but it also reduces the number of potential support parties. The premium that smaller parties with a geographic base receive under the single-member plurality (SMP) electoral system means larger parties must often look to regional parties for support. The scarcity of such parties, multilevel territorial considerations and the centralized control of government spending in the UK means regional parties look to extract policy rewards without incurring the costs of entering national government. Larger parties then use the strong agenda-setting powers afforded governments in the UK to maintain control over policy-making. This has seen minority governments perform more effectively than might be anticipated. Interestingly, when minority government has performed ineffectively, such as in late-2019, it has resulted as much or more from dissent within the governing party than from divisions between support parties and those in office.