Failure of budget legislation in a parliamentary system
This article is about budget legislation failure in a parliamentary-style government. For the corresponding situation in a presidential-style government, see
Budget crisis.
Loss of supply occurs where a government in aparliamentary democracy using theWestminster System or a system derived from it is denied a supply of treasury or exchequer funds, by whichever house or houses of parliament or head of state is constitutionally entitled to grant and deny supply. A defeat on a budgetary vote is one way by which supply can be denied. Loss of supply is typically interpreted as indicating aloss of confidence in the government. Not allmoney bills are necessarily supply bills. For instance, in Australia, supply bills are defined as "bills which are required by the Government to carry on its day-to-day business".[1]
When a loss of supply occurs, aprime minister is generally required either byconstitutional convention or by explicit constitutional instruction to either resign immediately or seek a parliamentary dissolution.
Some constitutions, however, do not allow the option of parliamentary dissolution but rather require the government to be dissolved or to resign.
A similar deadlock can occur within apresidential system, where it is also known as abudget crisis. In contrast to parliamentary systems, the failure of the legislature to authorize spending may not in all circumstances result in an election, because some such legislatures enjoy fixed terms and so cannot be dissolved before a date of termination, which can result in a prolonged crisis.
A deadlock between ahead of state and the legislative body can give rise and cause for a head of state to prematurely dismiss the elected government, requiring it to seek re-election. If a government maintains the support of a majority of legislators or the elected parliamentary representatives, the blocking of supply by a head of state would be seen as an abuse of authority and power. Many western countries have removed or restricted the right of a head of state to block supply or veto a government budget unless there is overwhelming justification and cause for such action.
Examples of the threat or loss of supply
[edit]- In 1909, theUKHouse of Lords voted against the "People's Budget", precipitating two general elections and theParliament Act 1911, which limited the power of the (then mostly hereditary) Lords, in particular preventing them from blocking money bills for more than a month.
- In the1975 Australian constitutional crisis, the electedSenate delayed voting on a bill to authorize supply for the government demanding that thePrime Minister,Gough Whitlam, call an election for theHouse of Representatives. Whitlam was dismissed by theGovernor-General, SirJohn Kerr, on the basis of his refusal to either resign or request a dissolution.[2]
- In December 1979 in Canada, theProgressive Conservative government ofJoe Clark was defeated on a budget vote. Clark called the1980 Canadian federal election as a result.Pierre Trudeau and theLiberals won a majority of seats in theHouse of Commons of Canada. Clark resigned as prime minister and was replaced by Trudeau.
- In September 1980, theItalian Chamber of Deputies rejected a budget bill proposed by thesecond Cossiga government in a 298–297 vote taken bysecret ballot.Francesco Cossiga consequently resigned as prime minister andwas replaced byArnaldo Forlani.[3]
- Garret FitzGerald's government was defeated in a budget vote inDáil Éireann in theRepublic of Ireland in 1982. FitzGerald immediately sought and was granted a Dáil dissolution.[4]
- On 9 March 2011, theLegislative Council ofHong Kong blocked a resolution for provisional appropriations, which, before 2011, had always been a formality. Resolutions for provisional appropriations had never been voted bydivision until 2011. The government decided, on the following day, to table another resolution with a minor change being made merely for the sake of circumventing procedural requirements that a negatived question cannot be tabled again.
- On 10 December 2012, theMaltese Parliament rejected the budget bill for the 2013 fiscal year in a 35–34 vote taken byrising vote. Prime MinisterLawrence Gonzi consequently advised thePresident to dissolve Parliament and called elections for9 March of the following year.
- On 13 February 2019, theSpanish Government lost a vote on a budget bill 191–158, thanks to two allies of the Government,Republican Left of Catalonia and theCatalan European Democratic Party, siding against it. Asnap election was immediately called, which eventually led to a new election of a second Sánchez Government. Both of those parties eventually sided with the new Government to pass the 2021 Budget.
