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What is a vote of no confidence? | |
(6 months later) | |
The Conservative leadership contenders have been warned that around a dozen Tory MPs might support a vote of no confidence in the government to prevent a no-deal Brexit. | |
Boris Johnson - the frontrunner ahead of Jeremy Hunt - says the UK must leave the EU by 31 October, come what may. | |
But what would such a vote of no confidence actually mean? | |
What is a no confidence vote? | |
It is a chance for MPs to hold a vote on whether they want the government to continue - and it has the power to trigger a general election. | |
Any MP can propose a motion of no confidence, but that doesn't mean it would be debated. | |
However, if the leader of the opposition introduces the motion, convention means the government will provide time for a debate to take place. | |
The wording of a no confidence motion is: "That this House has no confidence in Her Majesty's Government." | |
What happens if the government loses? | |
Losing a no confidence vote starts a critical 14-day period, after which a general election could be triggered. | |
To prevent that, the existing government - or an alternative one formed during that period - must persuade MPs to pass a vote of confidence. | |
The wording of the confidence motion has to be: "That this House has confidence in Her Majesty's Government." | |
The date for the election, if a confidence motion isn't passed, would be 25 working days after Parliament is dissolved. | |
There are no firm rules about who, if anyone, should get the chance to form an alternative government during the 14-day period. The leader of the opposition is clearly a likely candidate, but that is not an inevitable outcome. | |
The Cabinet Manual - a document which sets out the main rules covering the working of government - suggests that the principles applied should be similar to those after an election in which no one party wins a majority. | |
That means that the old prime minister should only resign if and when it's clear that somebody is more likely to have the support of MPs. | |
So it's possible that the existing prime minister would stay in place, or that more than one leader would get a chance. | |
How could the next Tory prime minister be defeated? | |
Whoever wins the Conservative Party leadership election is expected to become prime minister. | |
But they will lead a government with a very small majority. | |
Since the 2017 general election the Tories have been reliant on the 10 DUP MPs in the House of Commons. And their majority has become narrower over time after a series of defections. | |
So, if some Tories are prepared to vote against them in a no confidence vote the new prime minister could be in office for only a brief period. | |
Previous no confidence votes | |
Before the law was changed in 2011 to say elections would be held every five years, the rules governing votes of no confidence were different. | |
Prime ministers had the power to call general elections whenever they wanted. That meant they could turn votes on particular bits of legislation into "confidence votes". | |
In other words they would threaten to call an election unless MPs backed a new law. | |
However, this is no longer an option. Elections are only triggered by no confidence votes with precisely the right wording. | |
However, the fundamental principle remains the same. Governments can only continue if they have the confidence of the House of Commons. | |
There's only been one occasion since World War Two when the government lost a no confidence vote. | |
That was in 1979, when the Labour minority government fell and was replaced by Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives at the general election which followed. |