The Salibsbury-Addison Convention and minority government

20 Oct 2017 12:41 PM

The Constitution Committee recently published evidence considering whether the Salisbury-Addison Convention applies when there is a minority government.

• Report: The Salisbury-Addison Convention (HTML)
• Report: The Salisbury-Addison Convention (PDF)
• Report: Constitutional implications of coalition government (HTML)
• Report: Constitutional implications of coalition government (PDF)
• Select Committee on the Constitution

2014 Report

The Committee’s previous report, 'Constitutional implications of coalition government', published in 2014, said the convention was that "bills foreshadowed in a government’s manifesto are given a second reading in the Lords, are not subject to wrecking amendments and are passed in reasonable time."

The Committee said that the Salisbury-Addison convention does not apply to measures in a coalition government agreement, but that "a practice has evolved that the House of Lords does not normally block government bills, whether they are in a manifesto or not."

Evidence sought

Following the election in June 2017, the Committee sought views on the applicability of the convention in a minority government from the Leader of the House of Lords, the Shadow Leader of the House of Lords, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, the Convenor of the Crossbench Peers, and others. These submissions have been published by the Committee to aid understanding of the convention.

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