What is a parliamentary ‘supermajority’?

A new term has entered the general election lexicon as campaigning intensifies, with some predicting a Labour “supermajority” in the House of Commons after 4 July.

Defence secretary Grant Shapps has mentioned the possibility of Labour winning a “supermajority” on Times Radio and Channel 4 News, and former Conservative leader William Hague—now Conservative peer Lord Hague of Richmond—wrote about “how a Labour supermajority would govern unchecked” in his column in The Times on 17 June. An audience member on yesterday’s Question Time leaders’ debate also mentioned it in a comment to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

All of which may have left you wondering, what exactly is a “supermajority”?

When does a normal majority become ‘super’?

The term has emerged as some opinion polls are predicting that Labour will win a substantial majority in the House of Commons. One such poll conducted between 31 May and 13 June predicted Labour could win 456 out of 650 seats, compared to 72 for the Conservatives, which would give Labour a majority of 262.

This would be bigger than Labour’s win in 1997 under Tony Blair, when the party won 419 seats to the Conservatives’ 165, which gave them a majority of 179.

But in reality, there’s no specific definition of what a “supermajority” is in UK parliamentary terms.

Nicholas Allen, professor of politics at Royal Holloway, University of London told the i newspaper the term “supermajority” is meaningless in the UK parliamentary system. As there are 650 seats, to have an overall majority one political party must win over half, or 326 seats.

In his column in The Times, Lord Hague said that with a small opposition, there was “no possibility of ministers losing a vote on any legislation, however controversial or badly drafted”.

The Institute for Government says, in parliamentary terms, the difference between an 80-seat majority (that which the Conservative party won in the 2019 election) and a 200-seat majority is “not material”.

And the Electoral Reform Society says that a party with a majority of just one can legislate on anything it likes as long as it can keep its back benchers “in line”, exactly the same as a party that wins a “supermajority”. 

“A massive majority doesn’t grant any extra privileges or powers,” it adds. Under a Commons Standing Order, opposition parties are allocated 20 ‘opposition days’—17 to the official opposition and three to the smaller opposition parties—every parliamentary session, during which they can choose the main topic of business and table motions. 

Even foreign secretary David Cameron, Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton, said the term “doesn’t actually exist in the UK” when asked about it in a Channel 4 interview.

What about other countries?

The term may have gained traction in the UK because it is a genuine part of the US federal system. There, a supermajority is a qualified majority of two thirds.

In the US Congress there are several significant legislative actions that require a supermajority vote, most prominently convicting (removing from office) an impeached president, declaring a president incapable of serving under the 25th Amendment, and amending the constitution.

The Senate requires a supermajority of 60 percent to move to a vote through a ‘cloture motion’, which closes debate on a bill or nomination, thereby ending a filibuster by a minority of members.

Some other parliaments include rules that require a qualified majority before constitutional changes can take effect. 

Parliamentary scrutiny

However, the number of seats a party wins in a UK general election also affects how many select committee chairs it holds.

Commons select committees are cross-party groups of MPs and are a key part of holding the government to account. They are chaired by backbench MPs, and their political composition is supposed to reflect the strength of parties in the House of Commons.

The Speaker’s office applies a formula (which is not publicly known) after the general election result is confirmed to work out how many committee chairs should be distributed to each party.

Two specific committees, Public Accounts and Standards, must always be chaired by a member from the official opposition party.

As the balance of committee membership is also intended to reflect the balance of seats in the House of Commons, a government with a large majority would also expect to have a proportionate majority on select committees.

Money for opposition

Winning fewer seats as an opposition party does come with a financial cost. 

‘Short Money’ is allocated to all opposition parties whose members have sworn the oath, and that secured either two seats, or one seat and more than 150,000 votes.

This money assists them in parliamentary business, and is usually spent on research support, assistance in the whips’ offices and staff for the leader.

The formula to determine how much cash they get relies on the number of seats the party wins in a general election.

Qualifying parties get £21,438 in general funding for every seat won at the last general election plus £42.82 for every 200 votes gained by the party, a portion of over £235,500 for travel expenses divided in the same proportions as general funding.

The Leader of the Opposition’s office also gets £998,817 for their running costs. Parties with five or fewer MPs are subject to a funding floor and ceiling.

In 2023/24 the Labour Party received a total of £7.7 million in Short Money.

This is part of our in-depth coverage of the 2024 general election. You can read more of our live fact checking of the campaign here.