Confidence and supply

Part of the Politics series
Party politics
Political spectrum Left-wing Far-left Centre-left Centre Centre-left Radical centre Centre-right Right-wing Centre-right Far-right
Ideologies Anarchist Christian democratic Communist Conservative Democratic Environmentalist Fascist Fundamentalist Globalist Green Internationalist Liberal Libertarian Nationalist Pirate Party Populist Progressive Radical Regionalist Republican Social democratic Socialist Syncretic
Types Elite party Cartel party Catch-all party Entrepreneurial party Mass party Ruling party Opposition party Parliamentary opposition Official party status Single-issue party
Leaders and organization Backbencher Caucus Caucus chair Floor leader Frontbencher Lead candidate Leader of the Opposition Majority leader Minority leader Parliamentary group Parliamentary leader Party chair Party leader Party spokesperson Secretary Shadow cabinet Whip
Internal elections Primary election Leadership election Open list Party convention/conference Leadership convention
Party discipline Conscience vote Crossing the floor Party discipline Party line Party-line vote Party switching
Party systems One-party Dominant-party Two-party Multi-party Non-partisan
Coalitions between parties Political group Divided government Coalition government Confidence and supply Consensus government Grand coalition Hung parliament Majority government Minority government National unity government Rotation government
Lists of political parties Ruling parties by country Political parties by region Political ideologies Category:Banned political parties
Politics portal
v t e

In a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a ruling cabinet to retain power in the lower house.

A confidence-and-supply agreement is one whereby a party or independent members of parliament will support the government in motions of confidence and appropriation or budget (supply) votes, by either voting in favour or abstaining. However, parties and independent members normally retain the right to otherwise vote in favour of their own policies or on conscience on legislative bills.^[1][2][3]

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 may be expected to hold the government whip on passing legislation.

Confidence

In most parliamentary democracies, members of a parliament can propose a motion of confidence^[4] 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.

Supply

Most parliamentary democracies require an annual state budget, an appropriation 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

Country	Head of government	Governing parties	Confidence partners	Seats
				Government		Support	Total
Canada	Justin Trudeau	Liberal	NDP	158	46.7%	25	183/338	54.1%
Croatia	Andrej Plenković	HDZ – SDSS		65	43.0%	11	76/151	50.3%
Montenegro	Dritan Abazović	CnB – SNP – BS – SDP – LSH – KSH		16	19.7%	30	46/81	56.8%
Poland	Mateusz Morawiecki	PiS – SP – R		229	49.8%	7	236/460	51.3%
Spain	Pedro Sánchez	UP	ERC–Sobiranistes – PNV – EH Bildu	155	44.3%	34	189/350	54.0%
Sweden	Ulf Kristersson	M – KD – L	SD	103	29.5%	73	176/349	50.4%
Sub-national
Asturias	Adrián Barbón	FSA-PSOE		20	44.4%	2	22/45	48.9%
Azores	José Manuel Bolieiro	PPD/PSD – CDS-PP - PPM		26	45.6%	3	29/57	50.9%
Balearic Islands	Francina Armengol	PSIB – Podem-EUIB – Més		29	49.2%	3	32/59	54.2%
Catalonia	Pere Aragonès	ERC – junts		65	48.1%	9	74/135	54.8%
La Rioja	Concha Andreu	PSOE – Podemos		16	48.5%	1	17/33	51.5%
Madrid	Isabel Díaz Ayuso	PP		65	47.8%	13	78/136	57.3%
Murcia	Fernando López Miras	PP – Ind.		19	42.2%	4	23/45	51.1%
Navarre	María Chivite	PSN – GBai – Podemos		22	44%	8	30/50	60.0%
Thuringia	Bodo Ramelow	LINKE – SPD – Grüne		42	46.7%	21	63/90	70.0%
Yukon	Ranj Pillai	Liberal	NDP	8	42.1%	3	11/19	57.9%

Examples of confidence-and-supply deals

Australia

The

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.^[6][7]

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 will 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 is understood to have pledged to advance work on key NDP policy priorities on dental care, pharmaceutical drugs, and affordable childcare.^[8]

British Columbia

After the 2017 British Columbia provincial election, the Green Party of British Columbia agreed to a confidence-and-supply agreement in support of the British Columbia New Democratic Party.^[9] The incumbent British Columbia Liberal Party, which held a plurality of seats, briefly tried to form a government, but was immediately defeated in a confidence vote by the NDP and Greens.^[10]

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.^[11]

Ontario

Twenty-two days after the

After the 2021 territorial election resulted in the Yukon Liberal Party and the Yukon Party winning the same number of seats, the third place Yukon New Democratic Party agreed to provide confidence and supply to a Liberal minority government.^[14]

India

Third Front national governments were formed in 1989 and 1996 with outside support of one of the two major parties, BJP or Congress.

The CPI-M gave outside support to the Congress Party from 2004 to 2008, but later withdrew support after the India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement.

Ireland

After the

The 2020 Irish general election was held on Saturday 8 February 2020. The election was called following the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil by the President, at the request of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on 14 January 2020.^[19]

Italy

In Italy, the equivalent of confidence and supply is called "external support" (

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.

Malaysia

A confidence and supply agreement was signed on 13 September 2021 between

In the aftermath of the 2017 general election which left Theresa May's Conservative Party without a majority, a confidence-and-supply agreement was agreed with the Democratic Unionist Party.^[26]

Devolved government

Confidence and supply deals are more frequent in the devolved legislatures of Scotland and Wales due to the use of