Crossbencher
A crossbencher is a
United Kingdom
Crossbench | |
---|---|
House of Lords | 183 / 792 |
Crossbench members of the British
An "increasing number" of crossbenchers have been created peers for non-political reasons.[2] Since its establishment in May 2000, the House of Lords Appointments Commission has nominated a total of 67 non-party-political life peers who joined the House of Lords as crossbenchers.[3] There are currently 183 crossbenchers, making up approximately 23 per cent of the sitting members in the House of Lords, and only exceeded in number by Conservatives in the Lords.[4] From April 2007 to 2009, the number of crossbenchers was higher than the number of Conservative peers for the first time.[5]
Although the Lords Spiritual (archbishops and senior bishops of the Church of England) also have no party affiliation, they are not considered crossbenchers and do not sit on the crossbenches, their seats being on the Government side of the Lords Chamber.[2]
Parties supporting a minority government in a confidence and supply agreement in the House of Commons, such as the Democratic Unionist Party in the 2017–2019 Parliament, are not considered crossbenchers. Instead, along with all other non-governing parties, they are considered part of the opposition and sit on the opposition benches.
Convenor
The crossbenchers do not take a collective position on issues, and so have no whips; however, they do elect from among themselves a convenor for administrative purposes, and to keep them up to date with the business of the House.[1] The current convenor is The Earl of Kinnoull, who took the office in April 2023.[6] While convenors are not part of the "usual channels" (i.e. the party whips who decide the business of the House), they have been included in their discussions in recent years.[7]
The following have served as Convenor of the Crossbenchers:[8]
- 1968–1974: The Lord Strang
- 1974–1995: The Baroness Hylton-Foster
- 1995–1999: The Lord Weatherill (Alternate Convenor 1993–1995)
- 1999–2004: The Lord Craig of Radley
- 2004–2007: The Lord Williamson of Horton
- 2007–2011: The Baroness D'Souza[1]
- 2011–2015: The Lord Laming
- 2015–2019: The Lord Hope of Craighead[9]
- 2019–2023: The Lord Judge[10]
- 2023–present: The Earl of Kinnoull[6]
Australia
In the federal
The last few federal elections have seen an increase in the size and power of the crossbench in both houses of Parliament. The
The Australian Senate, which uses the
Generally speaking, Senators broadly aligned with the Coalition (such as those affiliated with the Australian Conservatives, One Nation, the Liberal Democratic Party, and Derryn Hinch) sit on the same side of the crossbench as the Coalition benches, while those more aligned with Labor, such as the Greens, sit on the same side of the crossbench as the Labor benches.[15] This tends not to be the case in the House of Representatives, both due to the different electoral system, which means fewer crossbenchers are elected, and the fact that the official government and opposition frontbenches extend across the inner rim of the entire hemicycle.[16]
New Zealand
In the New Zealand House of Representatives, MPs from parties that are not openly aligned with either the government or the official opposition (such as those belonging to New Zealand First from 2011 to 2017) are sometimes referred to as crossbenchers,[17][18] but those who support the government in confidence and supply agreements are regarded as part of the government and sit on the government benches, and often receive official roles as ministers outside the cabinet or as parliamentary under-secretaries. From 2008 to 2017, ACT New Zealand, Te Pāti Māori and United Future MPs supported the minority National Party government. As such, these MPs were not considered to be crossbenchers or part of the opposition, as they were represented within the government.
Similar concepts in Canada
This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2016) |
The term "crossbencher" is generally not used for the federal Parliament of Canada or any of the provincial or territorial legislatures. Instead, any party that is not the governing party is an "opposition party", with the largest of these designated the official opposition (and their leader is designated Leader of the Opposition). Opposition parties other than the official opposition are typically called third parties. In 2022 the "official opposition" is the Conservatives; the bloc Québecois, the NDP, and the Greens are the opposition.
Beginning in 2016, multiple non-partisan caucuses which fulfill a similar purpose as crossbenchers were formed in the Senate of Canada.[19][20] The first, the Independent Senators Group (ISG), was created partly as a response to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's decision to appoint more non-partisan Senators.[21] Similar to crossbenchers in the UK, the ISG chooses its own leader and does not use a whipping system. In December 2016, the Senate began to officially recognise the ISG and provide it with funding.[22] Two additional groups were established in 2019: the Canadian Senators Group (which primarily focuses on regional issues) and the Progressive Senate Group (formed by members of the defunct Senate Liberal Caucus). The Canadian Senate in 2022 generally aspires towards non-partisanship. Non-affiliated members outnumber members affiliated with a political party, and the Liberal Caucus in the Senate was dissolved in 2019.
See also
- Backbencher
- Frontbencher
- Category:Crossbench peers
- Third party
References
- ^ a b c "Cross benches". BBC News | UK | UK Politics |. 14 August 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ a b "A Brief History of the Crossbench Peers". Crossbenchpeers.org.uk. Archived from the original on 18 October 2010.
- ^ House of Lords Appointments Commission Archived 18 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Lords by party, type of peerage and gender". UK Parliament. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
- ^ "Days of Conservative domination in the Lords come to an end". The Times. 16 April 2007.
- ^ a b "Earl of Kinnoull". UK Parliament. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
- ^ "Constitutional renewal starts at home – Lords of the Blog". Lordsoftheblog.net. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
- ^ "Convenors of the Crossbench Peers". Archived from the original on 16 May 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
- ^ "Lord Hope of Craighead". UK Parliament. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ^ "Lord Judge". UK Parliament. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ^ "Australian federal election 2016: the crossbenchers likely to swing a hung Parliament". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 July 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
- ^ "Election 2016: Where do the crossbenchers stand on the major issues?". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 10 July 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
- ^ "Federal Election 2016: Senate Results". Australia Votes. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 3 July 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
- ^ "Senate photo finishes". Blogs.crikey.com.au. 12 July 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
- ^ "Senate Seating Plan". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
- ^ "House of Representatives Seating plan". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
- ^ Manhire, Toby (18 September 2014). "New Zealand prepares to vote after 'strangest, dirtiest' election campaign". The Guardian.
- ^ Armstrong, John (8 August 2015). "John Armstrong: Winston becoming NZ's Churchill". The New Zealand Herald.
- ^ "6 senators to form 'independent, non-partisan' working group". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
- ^ Canada, Senate of. "Senate of Canada – Special Senate Committee on Senate Modernization". Senate of Canada. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
- ^ "Justin Trudeau names nine non-partisan senators – Macleans.ca". Maclean's. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
- ^ "Independent Senators to get seats on committees, now group wants $542,428–$722,000 for staff – The Hill Times". Hilltimes.com. 12 December 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2017.