Acrossbencher is aminor party orindependent member of somelegislatures, such as the BritishHouse of Lords and theParliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government andopposition benches, where crossbenchers sit in the chamber.
Crossbench | |
|---|---|
| House of Lords | 184 / 832 |
Crossbench members of the BritishHouse of Lords are not aligned to any particular party.[1] Until 2009, these included theLaw Lords appointed under theAppellate Jurisdiction Act 1876. In addition, formerSpeakers of theHouse of Commons (such asLord Martin of Springburn andBaroness Boothroyd) and formerLord Speakers of the House of Lords (such asBaroness Hayman andBaroness D'Souza), who by convention are not aligned with any party, also sit as crossbenchers. There are also somenon-affiliated members of the House of Lords who are not part of the crossbencher group; this includes some officers, such as the Lord Speaker, and others who are associated with a party but have had thewhip withdrawn. Although non-affiliated members, and members of small parties, sometimes physically sit on the crossbenches, they are not members of the crossbenchparliamentary group.
An "increasing number" of crossbenchers have been created peers for non-political reasons.[2] Since its establishment in May 2000, theHouse of Lords Appointments Commission has nominated a total of 67 non-party-political life peers who joined the House of Lords as crossbenchers.[3] As of 23 March 2025[update], there are 184 crossbenchers, making up approximately22 percent of the sitting members in the House of Lords. The Crossbench is typically the third-largest peerage group after the Conservative and Labour benches.[4] From April 2007 to 2009, the number of crossbenchers was higher than the number of Conservative peers for the first time.[5]
Although theLords Spiritual (archbishops and senior bishops of theChurch of England) also have no party affiliation, they are not considered crossbenchers and do not sit on the crossbenches, their seats being on the Government side of the Lords Chamber.[2]
Parties supporting a minority government in aconfidence and supply agreement in the House of Commons, such as theDemocratic Unionist Party in the 2017–2019 Parliament, are not considered crossbenchers. Instead, along with all other non-governing parties, they are considered part of the opposition and sit on the opposition benches.
The crossbenchers do not take a collective position on issues, and so have nowhips; however, they do elect from among themselves a convenor for administrative purposes, and to keep them up to date with the business of the House.[1] The current convenor isThe Earl of Kinnoull, who took the office in April 2023.[6] While convenors are not part of the "usual channels" (i.e. the party whips who decide the business of the House), they have been included in their discussions in recent years.[7]
The following have served as Convenor of the Crossbenchers:[8]
In the federalParliament of Australia as well as theparliaments of the Australian states and territories, the termcrossbencher refers to any and allminor party andindependent members of the parliaments.[11] More precisely, a crossbencher is any member who is not part of the governing party or parties, nor the party or parties forming what is known in some other Commonwealth countries as theofficial opposition. Unlike the United Kingdom, the term is used by both the lower and upper houses of each parliament (where applicable), who sit on the crossbenches between the government and opposition benches.[12]
The last few federal elections have seen an increase in the size and power of the crossbench in both houses of Parliament. TheAustralian Parliament as elected at the2010 election was the firsthung parliament in theHouse of Representatives since theelection of 1940, with theAustralian Labor Party and theCoalition winning 72 seats each of 150 total. Six crossbenchers held thebalance of power:Greens MPAdam Bandt andIndependent MPAndrew Wilkie,Rob Oakeshott andTony Windsor declared their support for Labor onconfidence and supply, Independent MPBob Katter andNational Party of Western Australia MPTony Crook declared their support for the Coalition on confidence and supply. The resulting 76–74 margin entitled Labor to form aminority government.
The Australian Senate, which uses thesingle transferable vote form ofproportional representation to elect its 76-seat chamber, frequently has enough Senators on the crossbench that the governing party has to negotiate with it to get legislation passed. The2 July 2016 double dissolution election, for example resulted in a chamber with theLiberal/NationalCoalition having 30 seats, theAustralian Labor Party with 26 seats, theGreens with 9 seats,One Nation with 4 seats and theNick Xenophon Team with 3 seats. The other 4 seats were each won byDerryn Hinch, theLiberal Democratic Party,Family First, andJacqui Lambie. The number of crossbenchers increased by two to a record 20 (all but the ones of the LPA/NPA coalition and the ALP: 9+4+3+4). The Liberal/National Coalition government required at least nine additional votes to reach a Senate majority.[citation needed][13][14]
Generally speaking, Senators broadly aligned with the Coalition (such as those affiliated with theAustralian Conservatives, One Nation, the Liberal Democratic Party, and Derryn Hinch) sit on the same side of the crossbench as the Coalition benches, while those more aligned with Labor, such as the Greens, sit on the same side of the crossbench as the Labor benches.[15] This tends not to be the case in the House of Representatives, both due to the different electoral system, which means fewer crossbenchers are elected, and the fact that the official government and oppositionfrontbenches extend across the inner rim of the entire hemicycle.[16]
In theNew Zealand House of Representatives, MPs from parties that are not openly aligned with either the government or the official opposition (such as those belonging toNew Zealand First from 2011 to 2017) are sometimes referred to as crossbenchers,[17][18] but those who support the government inconfidence and supply agreements are regarded as part of the government and sit on the government benches, and often receive official roles as ministers outside the cabinet or as parliamentary under-secretaries. From 2008 to 2017,ACT New Zealand,Te Pāti Māori andUnited Future MPs supported the minorityNational Party government. As such, these MPs were not considered to be crossbenchers or part of the opposition, as they were represented within the government.
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The term "crossbencher" is generally not used for the federalParliament of Canada or any of theprovincial or territorial legislatures. Instead, any party that is not the governing party is an "opposition party", with the largest of these designated theofficial opposition (and their leader is designatedLeader of the Opposition). Opposition parties other than the official opposition are typically called third parties. Third parties that hold a certain threshold of seats are grantedofficial party status. In 2022 the "official opposition" is the Conservatives; the Bloc Québécois, the NDP, and the Greens are the opposition.
Beginning in 2016, multiple non-partisan caucuses which fulfill a similar purpose as crossbenchers were formed in theSenate of Canada.[19][20] The first, theIndependent Senators Group (ISG), was created partly as a response to Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau's decision to appoint more non-partisan Senators.[21] Similar to crossbenchers in the UK, the ISG chooses its own leader and does not use a whipping system. In December 2016, the Senate began to officially recognise the ISG and provide it with funding.[22] Two additional groups were established in 2019: theCanadian Senators Group (which primarily focuses on regional issues) and theProgressive Senate Group (formed by members of the defunctSenate Liberal Caucus).The Canadian Senate in 2022 generally aspires towards non-partisanship. Non-affiliated members outnumber members affiliated with a political party, and the Liberal Caucus in the Senate was dissolved in 2019.