What's a 'hung' Parliament? Ans - the election winning party has fewer MPs that all the rest added together. Charter 2010 has proposals.

Charter 2010’s proposals on how the constitutional issues surrounding a hung parliament should be approached have been given new emphasis and weight by the deliberations of the Justice Committee of the House of Commons, chaired by Sir Alan Beith. The committee’s excellent discussion of the main constitutional issues, on Wednesday 24 February 2010, is dealt with towards the end of this article.

The principal feature of the evidence session was the presentation of the draft of a new Chapter of the Cabinet Manual ( 6: Elections and Government Formation). Several paragraphs in the draft Chapter deal with “hung parliaments”. The Cabinet Secretary sought opinions on the draft and we have submitted our suggested changes. A link to the final version of the Chapter will be placed on www.charter2010.co.uk as soon as it is released. This is expected to be before the election is called.

Further required reading for any sitting or prospective MP is a new pamphlet published by the Hansard Society and the Study of Parliament Group. Who governs? Forming a coalition or a minority government in the event of a hung parliament is an invaluable guide to what may happen in the event of an indecisive General Election result. No stone is unturned by the report, which emphasises that a hung parliament "need not be weak and unstable".

No-one denies that the constitutional issues surrounding a hung parliament are complex. It has to be stressed that Charter 2010’s proposals on how to deal with the situation where no one party has an overall majority (the formation of a multi-party supported government for a fixed period of four years) are directed only at the particular situation of a hung parliament occurring in 2010. We are motivated essentially by the urgent need to ensure that a stable and representative government emerges from any hung parliament in this year’s election, because of the especially grave financial and economic problems our country contemporarily faces. Our advocacy of this approach to a hung parliament in 2010 does not imply any assumption that it would necessarily be appropriate in total, or in parts, at another time - or in other circumstances.

A good summary of the 20th century experience of hung parliaments is contained in a recent House of Commons Library Note.

via charter2010.co.uk

To read the full article click on the Charter 2010 link

Posted via web from Hexham Matters