1 Introduction
Inquiry
1. We launched this inquiry in order to identify
the lessons from the process of government formation and transition
that followed the general election in May 2010. Following the
general election, no single party was able to command a majority
in the House of Commons. Though they were relatively common during
the period before the Second World War and could feasibly become
a more frequent occurrence, hung Parliaments have been rare in
post-Second World War UK history. The last time this result occurred
in a UK general election was in 1974, and the last peacetime coalition
Government was formed in 1931 (although, like hung Parliaments,
coalition governments were not unusual in the period before the
Second World War).[1][2]
Therefore, the events of May 2010 are "of considerable political
and historical significance", and "will serve to mould
ideas and expectations about the future".[3]
2. During the inquiry, we heard from representatives
from the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties who
took part in negotiations following the general election, from
the Cabinet Secretary, and from a panel of academic experts. We
also received written evidence from a wider range of experts and
from Members of the House of Lords. This Report seeks to cover
not only the specific lessons that can be learned from the 2010
election and its aftermath, but also a number of broader constitutional
issues have arisen in the course of our inquiry.
Background
3. The number of seats won by each party in the general
election of 6 May 2010 was as follows.[4]
4. This meant that no single party had a majority
in the House of Commons. In the days after the election, representatives
of the Liberal Democrat party leadership held talks with representatives
of the leadership of both the Conservative and Labour parties
with a view to reaching an agreement that would result in a government
being formed. Four days after the general election, on 10 May,
the incumbent Prime Minister, Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, tendered
his resignation to the Queen, who invited Rt Hon David Cameron
MP to form a government. The next day, the Conservative and Liberal
Democrat parties reached an agreement to form a coalition government.
5. As the general election approached, on 2 February
2010, Gordon Brown asked the Cabinet Secretary to begin drafting
a Cabinet Manual.[5] On
this day the then-Prime Minister announced the Cabinet Manual
initiative at a public event (not to Parliament) at which he depicted
it as part of a broader reform programme that could eventually
lead to a 'written' constitution for the UK.[6]
The Cabinet Secretary told the Justice Committee later that month
that the Cabinet Manual would be an "account of the workings
of Cabinet Government" and would "consolidate the existing
unwritten, piecemeal conventions that govern much of the way central
government operates under our existing constitution".[7]
Later in the same month, in anticipation of the possibility that
the 2010 general election could result in a hung Parliament, the
Cabinet Office published a draft chapter from the Cabinet Manual
on Elections and Government Formation (referred to in this Report
as the 'draft Cabinet Manual chapter'). This draft chapter sought
to summarise the existing constitutional conventions which applied
in the event of a hung Parliament.[8]
On 14 December 2010 the Cabinet Office published the full Cabinet
Manual in draft for consultation (referred to in this Report as
the 'December 2010 Cabinet Manual'). The chapter on Elections
and Government Formation has changed substantially from the draft
published in February. We recently launched a separate inquiry
into the constitutional status of the Cabinet Manual. Our
comments on the Cabinet Manual in this Report relate only to the
issue of government formation. We will return in due course to
wider issues raised by the Cabinet Manual.
1 Ev w2 [Professor Blackburn] Back
2
Robert Hazell and Akash Paun, Making Minority Government Work,
(Institute for Government, 2009) p12
Back
3
Ev w2 [Professor Blackburn] Back
4
The chart below includes the seat won by the Conservative party
in Thirsk and Malton on 27 May 2010. The election was delayed
in Thirsk and Malton due to the death of a candidate. Back
5
Q 167 Back
6
"Towards a new politics", 10 Downing Street press notice,
2 February 2010 Back
7
Justice Committee, Fifth Report of Session 2009-10, Constitutional
Processes Following a General Election, HC 396, Ev 23 Back
8
Q 175 Back
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