5 Impact of coalition government
36. Under the Coalition Agreement for Stability
and Reform, published in May 2010, the Prime Minister, Rt
Hon David Cameron MP, agreed that a number of his powers, including
the appointment of Ministers, would be exercised only after consultation
with the Deputy Prime Minister, Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP.Professor
Jones listed the following examples:
· allocations of ministerial posts must
be in proportion to the parliamentary representation of the two
Coalition parties [1.2].
· The Prime Minister will make nominations
for the appointment of ministers 'following consultation with
the Deputy Prime Minister' [1.2].
· The Prime Minister will nominate Conservative
Party Ministers and the Deputy Prime Minister will nominate Liberal
Democrat Ministers [1.2].
· Any changes to the allocation of portfolios
between the Parliamentary Parties during the lifetime of the Coalition
will be agreed between the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime
Minister [1.3].
· No Liberal Democrat Minister or Whip
may be removed on the recommendation of the Prime Minister without
full consultation with the Deputy Prime Minister [1.4].
· The establishment of Cabinet Committees,
appointment of members and determination of their terms of reference
by the Prime Minister has been and will continue to be agreed
with the Deputy Prime Minister. The Deputy Prime Minister will
serve, or nominate another member of the administration to serve,
on each Cabinet Committee and sub-committee. The existence and
composition of Cabinet Committees and sub-committees will be published
[3.1].
· The general principle will be that
the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister should have a full
and contemporaneous overview of the business of Government. Each
will have the power to commission papers from the Cabinet Secretariat
[3.3].
· The Prime Minister, with the agreement
of the Deputy Prime Minister, has established a Coalition Committee
which will oversee the operation of the Coalition, supported by
the Cabinet Secretariat. It will be co-chaired by the Prime Minister
and the Deputy Prime Minister, with equal numbers of members drawn
from the two Coalition Parties [3.4].[41]
37. Not allour witnesses thought that coalition was
a substantial restriction on the powers of the Prime Minister.Dr
Bennister, writing in 2011, commented: "It is not obvious
that a Prime Minister is greatly constrained by coalition arrangements...Coalition
government may shape the behaviour of the Prime Minister, but
he remains the resource-rich actor and merely has another relationship
to manage."[42]Giving
oral evidence on 7 March 2013, he said: "It may be useful
for the Prime Minister having a coalition partner to be able to
manage the broader party."[43]Professor
Helms, writing in 2011, commented that "consensus-building...has
always been one of the key tasks of many British Prime Ministers."He
continued: "In fact, dealing with intra-party quarrels may
to some extent be considered a functional equivalent to leading
a coalition government."[44]
38. Most witnesses, however, thought that coalition
government was a significant constraint.Dr O'Malley, also in written
evidence from 2011, stated:
Coalition government probably will have a greater
impact on the position of the Prime Minister than any other factor
or event.While Prime Ministers always have had to be mindful of
what could pass in the Commons, Prime Ministers in single party
governments had important levers to keep the party in check (patronage
powers, institutional (agenda setting) powers, informational powers).
In a coalition government there is a more formal need to get the
approval of the other party which is almost by definition organised
and capable of delivering a Commons defeat.[45]
Professor Hazell, giving oral evidence on 7 February
2013, said that the coalition "had quite a severely constraining
effect."He commented:
Critically, it [the Coalition Agreement] constrained
the power of the Prime Minister in relation to the way that Cabinet
and Cabinet committees would operate, because no Cabinet committee
can be established, or its terms of reference set, or its membership
set, without the consent of the Deputy Prime Minister; and no
ministerial appointments can be made without the consent of the
Deputy Prime Minister, nor can Ministers be dismissed without
his consent.[46]
39. Dr Heffernan, giving oral evidence on 27 March
2014, illustrated how coalition acted as a constraint in a different
way to managing party relationships, using the example of therole
played by the Quad in the current coalition:
The Quad is a power-sharing arrangement within
the Government in which the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives
have equal power and say. It is run on two votes, two votes….The
Prime Minister does not have a majority in the Quad and Clegg
and Alexander have a veto. Could you imagine having a Quad when
the Blair Government was in its pomp, if you had Brownites and
Blairites and the occasional non-aligned person meeting with equal
voices and votes in a private committee deciding policy? Blair
would have lost every time, but he did not have such a thing because
single party Government empowers Prime Ministers, largely because
of political reasons and institutional ones, and Coalition Government
significantly disempowers them.[47]
40. When we asked whether the coalition's constraining
effect on the powers of the Prime Minister could be regarded as
a positive, and if so how the positive effect could be maintained
under a single-party government, Professor Hazell said:
Whether you regard it as a positive or negative
depends on an individual's perception of whether the Government
and the powers of the Prime Minister need constraining, whether
we need more of a brake, more of a collective brake, on the way
in which the Prime Minister operates and runs the Government.
There probably has been, among academics certainly, a majority
view that we do need a stronger collective brake.[48]
He added:
If this Committee wanted to recommend that the
more collegiate style of cabinet government that has undoubtedly
been practised under the coalition were to become a norm for future
governments, including single party governments, I think the most
promising vehicle in which to express that new norm would be a
Cabinet Manual.[49]
Dr Heffernan suggested "formalising the role
of a Deputy Prime Minister" as a way of capturing some of
the benefits of the more collegiate style of Cabinet government
that has been operating under the coalition, but acknowledged
that the role of the Deputy Prime Minister would be very different
under a single-party government.[50]
41. Coalition government has to some extent constrained
the powers of the Prime Minister and made a more collegiate style
of government necessary.This does not mean that thismore collegiate
style would persist under a single-party government.
41 Professor George Jones written evidence (references
in square brackets are to the Coalition Agreement) Back
42
Dr Mark Bennister written evidence Back
43
Q181 Back
44
Professor Ludger Helms written evidence Back
45
Dr Eoin O'Malley written evidence Back
46
Q67 Back
47
Q299 [Dr Heffernan] Back
48
Q69 Back
49
Q70 Back
50
Q300 [Dr Heffernan] Back
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