Boris Johnson has been Prime Minister since 2019 after Theresa May resigned. Johnson has been under pressure for the last few weeks since the whole 'partygate' incident. Yesterday (June 6), he won a no-confidence vote, what does this mean for the UK?
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What is a no-confidence vote?
According to the BBC, a no-confidence vote is when Members of Parliament (MPs) from all parties (Conservatives, Labour etc) ‘decide if they want the government to continue’. What does this mean?
It means if the Prime Minister fails to win a no-confidence vote, a general election can ensue. Any MP can put a motion for a no-confidence vote, however, there is no guarantee it’ll take place. If the opposition leader, in this case, Kier Starmer, asks for a no-confidence vote, ‘convention means the government will provide time for a debate.’
The wording of a no-confidence motion is: ‘That this House has no confidence in Her Majesty's Government,’ as reported by the BBC.
Johnson won, what does this mean for the UK?
Johnson won the no-confidence vote with 211 votes out of 359 according to The Conversation. This means that Johnson won 59% of the vote, which is a significant difference compared to Theresa May who won 63% of the vote before resigning according to the BBC.
The fact that Boris won means he will continue to be Prime Minister for the time being and is immune from being kicked out of office for a year but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll see the end of his government. Indeed if history is anything to go by, a win on a no-confidence vote doesn’t always help.
As mentioned earlier, Theresa May called for a no-confidence vote in 2018, won with 63% but then resigned 6 months later. The Conversation also reported that John Major had a no-confidence vote in 1995 and won with 71% of MPs voting for him, however, 2 years later, he was replaced by Labour Party Leader, Tony Blair.
Johnson described his win as ‘decisive’, ‘very good’, ‘convincing’ and ‘an opportunity to put behind us all the stuff that the media goes on about’ as reported by the BBC.
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