Collective Ministerial Responsibility

• What is collective ministerial responsibility?

  Principle by which ministers must support all decisions of government in public or resign
• What is the purpose of collective ministerial responsbility?

  To maintain unity of the government in face of attacks by the opposition
• While ministers are free to argue their case with each other in private, once a decision has been reached it is binding on them all. If a minister cannot accept such a decision, in theory they should resign.
• Example of a minister that resigned due to not being able to uphold collective ministerial responsibility

  Robin Cook in 2003, leader of the House of Commons, in opposition to the Blair government’s decision to go to war with Iraq
• Recent example of exceptions to collective responsibility

  Coalition government in 2010
• What votes were Liberal Democrats allowed to abstain in?

  Votes on construction of new nuclear power plants, tax allowances for married couples, higher education funding and to propose an alternative to the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent
• The 2011 referendum on the Westminster electoral system, in which David Cameron defended first past the post, while Nick Clegg campaigned for the alternative vote is another example of collective responsibility being suspended