[3] At the national level, this means that the UK government (the Cabinet) must retain the confidence of a majority in the House of Commons.
Despite their importance to the constitution, for a long time the rules surrounding motions of no confidence were dictated solely by convention.
Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, a vote of no confidence had to be passed in a specific form in order to create the possibility of an early general election.
MPs from any political party may propose another vote immediately, although are unlikely to do so due to convention and potential weakening of their own standing.
If a confidence motion is lost then the Government is obliged to resign or seek a dissolution of Parliament and call a general election.
Although this is a convention, prior to the 2011 Fixed-term Parliaments Act there was no law which required that the government resign or call a general election.
[107] Brazier argues: "it used to be the case that a defeat on a major matter had the same effect as if an explicit vote of confidence had carried" but that a development in constitutional practice has occurred since the 1970s.
Thatcher's defeat over the Shops Bill 1986 did not trigger a confidence motion despite being described as 'a central piece of their legislative programme'.
For example, in 2009 the proposed vote of no confidence in the Speaker of the House of Commons forced the resignation of Michael Martin in the wake of the Parliamentary Expenses Scandal.
In turn, they could be expected to bring about an early election using the two-thirds of MPs provision of the Fixed-Term Act to gain a popular mandate for their programme.
The only such motion under the 2011 Act was tabled on 15 January 2019, following the defeat of Theresa May's Brexit deal,[111] and was voted on the following day.