A Commons Library briefing on the financial resilience of local authorities.
Documents to download
-
The 2017-19 Government at Westminster: Governing as a minority (794 KB, PDF)
Following the 2017 general election, on 8 June 2017, the Conservative Party was returned as the largest party with 317 seats, but did not have a working majority in the House of Commons.
Government formation
On 9 June 2017, the then Prime Minister Theresa May informed the Queen that she would seek to form a Government. At the time, Mrs May indicated that the Conservative Party “will continue to work with our friends and allies in the Democratic Unionist Party”. On 9 June 2017, Arlene Foster, the leader of the DUP, announced that she would hold discussions with the Conservative Party. A confidence-and-supply agreement between the parties with additional financial support from the UK Government for Northern Ireland was announced on 26 June 2017. The House subsequently passed the Humble Address to the Queen’s Speech without amendment on 29 June.
The agreement
There are two documents that make up the agreement. The first is the agreement itself, detailing in what votes in the House of Commons the DUP will support the Conservative Party and detailing policy agreements between them. It states that the DUP will support the Government in:
- All motions on confidence;
- Votes on the Budget, finance bills, money bills, supply and appropriation legislation and Estimates (these all constitute “supply”);
- Votes on legislation pertaining to the UK’s exit from the European Union;
- Votes on legislation pertaining to national security;
- Other matters on a case by case basis.
The second document contains information about the financial support being granted to Northern Ireland as part of the arrangement. This financial support totals around £1billion over 5 years, primarily in the first two years of the arrangement.
The House of Commons
The composition of select committees and public bill committees generally reflects the party balance of the House of Commons. The nomination of such committees has traditionally been a role for the Committee of Selection. On 12 September 2017, the House agreed to establish a new Committee, the Selection Committee. The House instructed the Selection Committee to give the Government a majority on public bill and delegated legislation committees that have an odd number of members.
Initially, the Government did not lose any divisions in the House of Commons. On 13 September 2017, the House debated two Opposition Day motions tabled by the Labour Party on policy areas which were not covered by the agreement between the Conservative Party and the DUP. The Government did not object to the motions before the House and therefore the House did not divide.
There were reports that the informal arrangement between parties known as “pairing”, which usually allows Members to be absent from votes by neutralising the effect of their absence, would not operate in what became the 2017-19 Parliament.
Documents to download
-
The 2017-19 Government at Westminster: Governing as a minority (794 KB, PDF)
Related posts
-
-
As of March 2019, 295 public bodies were in operation across the UK government. Most public bodies within the United Kingdom are established and operated by the government, with varying levels of autonomy and ministerial responsibility according to their classification. Brexit means that many functions previously carried out by EU agencies will become the responsibility of existing UK bodies. A number of new public bodies are also being created to manage additional responsibilities after EU exit.
-
This paper provides details and links for ministerial statements and parliamentary debates (from both Houses of Parliament) that cover international affairs and defence.