Australia Federal The
Australian Labor Party Gillard government formed a
minority government in the
hung parliament elected at the
2010 federal election resulting from a confidence-and-supply agreement with three
independent MPs and one
Green MP.
New South Wales Following the
2023 New South Wales state election, the
Labor opposition reached 45 out of 47 seats required for a majority. Independent MLAs,
Alex Greenwich,
Greg Piper, and
Joe McGirr entered into a confidence-and-supply agreement with the Labor government.
Tasmania Following the
2024 Tasmanian state election, the incumbent
Liberal government reached 14 out of 18 seats required for a majority. The
Jacqui Lambie Network, along with Independent MHAs,
David O'Byrne and
Kristie Johnston entered into a confidence-and-supply agreement with the Liberal government.
Australian Capital Territory Following the
2024 Australian Capital Territory election, the
ACT Labor Party party reached 10 out of 13 seats required for a majority, with the
ACT Greens holding the balance of power with 4 seats. Unlike the previous three elections, Labor and the Greens did not enter into a
coalition government. Instead, the Greens pledged to provide confidence and supply to a minority Labor government.
Canada Federal In November 2008, the
Liberal Party and the
Bloc Québécois signed a confidence agreement to support a proposed coalition. However, the proposed agreements fell apart in January 2009, as a result of an ensuing
parliamentary dispute. In 2022, a few months into the
44th Canadian Parliament, the NDP agreed to a confidence-and-supply agreement with the governing Liberal Party, to continue the
Liberal minority government. The deal was intended to keep the minority Liberal government in power until 2025, with the NDP agreeing to support the government on confidence motions and budget votes. In exchange, the Liberal government pledged to advance work on key NDP policy priorities on dental care, pharmaceutical drugs, and affordable childcare. NDP leader
Jagmeet Singh announced the early termination of the agreement on 4 September 2024.
British Columbia 2017–2020 Following the
2017 British Columbia provincial election, the
Green Party of British Columbia agreed to a confidence-and-supply agreement in support of the
British Columbia New Democratic Party. The incumbent
British Columbia Liberal Party, which held a plurality of seats, briefly tried to form a government, but was immediately defeated in a confidence vote by the NDP and Greens. The agreement, which was intended to remain in effect until the next
fixed election in October 2021, was ended early when premier
John Horgan requested the lieutenant governor call a
snap election in 2020.
2024–2026 The NDP and Green Party announced on 13 December 2024 that they had concluded a confidence and supply agreement, the
2024 Co-operation and Responsible Government Accord, after the NDP won a slim 1-seat majority government a few months earlier in the
2024 provincial election. The agreement will have the Green Party support the NDP government on all confidence votes for a term of four years, subject to annual renewal, in exchange for cooperation on shared policy goals like expanding health care funding and public transit. In February 2026, the BC Greens decided not to renew the agreement after it accused the BC NDP government of not implementing the terms of the agreement.
New Brunswick On 2 November 2018 (less than two months after the
2018 New Brunswick general election) the
legislative assembly voted 25–23 for a motion, introduced by the
Progressive Conservatives, to amend the throne speech to
declare no confidence in the government. Subsequently, Premier
Brian Gallant indicated his intention to resign the premiership and recommend to the lieutenant governor that PC leader
Blaine Higgs be given the mandate to form a minority government: "I will go see the lieutenant-governor at her earliest convenience to inform her that I will be resigning as premier, and I will humbly suggest to her honour to allow the leader of the Conservative Party to attempt to form a government and attempt to gain the confidence of the house".
People's Alliance leader
Kris Austin said he would work with the new government "in the areas we agree on," and reiterated his promise to support the Progressive Conservatives on confidence votes for a period of 18 months.
Green Party leader
David Coon said he would start working with the Tories in an attempt to ensure his party's issues were on the government's agenda.
Ontario Twenty-two days after the
1985 Ontario provincial election, the
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario government resigned following a
motion of no confidence, and the
Ontario Liberal Party formed a government with the support of the
Ontario New Democratic Party. The agreement between the two parties was referred to as "The Accord".
Yukon After the
2021 territorial election resulted in the
Yukon Liberal Party and the
Yukon Party winning the same number of seats, the third place
Yukon New Democratic Party agreed to provide confidence and supply to a Liberal minority government.
India Third Front national governments were formed in
1989 and
1996 with outside support of one of the two major parties,
BJP or
Congress. The
CPI-M gave outside support to the Congress Party from 2004 to 2008, but later withdrew support after the
India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement.
Ireland Following the
2016 general election,
a minority government was formed by
Fine Gael and some independents, with confidence and supply () support from
Fianna Fáil in return for a published set of policy commitments from the government. Fianna Fáil abstained on confidence and supply votes, but reserved the right to vote for or against any bill proposed in the
Dáil or
Seanad. The deal lasted until the
32nd Dáil was dissolved on 14 January 2020 for a
general election to be held in February 2020.
Italy In Italy, the equivalent of confidence and supply is called "external support" (). Starting from the 1950s through the 1970s there were various examples of
Christian Democratic cabinets being able to govern thanks to confidence and supply agreements with other minor parties. Most famously, the
Andreotti III Cabinet was formed in 1976 with a confidence and supply agreement between the Christian Democrats and the
Italian Communist Party, referred to as "the
historic compromise" (), in which the Communist Party agreed not to vote against the government during confidence votes. The
Dini Cabinet, formed in 1995, and the
Monti Cabinet, formed in 2011, were
technocratic governments which relied on the support of the main parties in Parliament during confidence votes.
Malaysia A confidence and supply agreement was signed on 13 September 2021 between
Barisan Nasional and
Pakatan Harapan to strengthen political stability amid the
COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first such agreement signed to ensure
bipartisan cooperation.
New Zealand In New Zealand, confidence and supply arrangements are common due to the
MMP system used in the country. The parties providing confidence and supply have a more prominent role than in other countries, with MPs from the support parties often being appointed to
ministerial portfolios outside of Cabinet. New Zealand codified the procedures it used to form these Governments in its
Cabinet Manual.
John Key's
National Party administration formed a minority government in
2008 thanks to a confidence-and-supply agreement with the
ACT,
United Future and the
Māori Party. A similar arrangement in
2005 had led to
Helen Clark's
Labour Party forming a coalition government with the
Progressive Party, with support on confidence and supply from
New Zealand First and
United Future. Following the
2011,
2014 elections, National re-entered confidence-and-supply agreements with United Future, the ACT Party, and the Māori Party. In 2017, despite National winning more votes than Labour in the election, New Zealand First chose to enter coalition with Labour to help them change the government, with support on confidence and supply from the left-wing
Green Party. This agreement followed the fall of the
Paetongtarn cabinet due to the
2025 Thai political crisis and is relatively unusual. Scholars noted that minority governments and confidence-and-supply agreements were virtually unheard of in Thai politics. Moreover, the parties involved sit on opposite sides of the political spectrum: Bhumjaithai is staunchly conservative, while the People's Party is progressive, its predecessor having been dissolved due to its calls for monarchy reform. A factor that led to this "unlikely alliance" was a peculiarity of the 2017 constitution, which limited candidates for prime minister to those whose names had been submitted by a party prior to the general election. This meant that despite being the largest party in the House of Representatives, the People's Party could only support a candidate of one of its ideological rivals. The coalition proved unstable and collapsed even before the agreed four month deadline. Due to disagreements over the constitutional reform process, the People's Party was already planning a motion of no confidence against Anutin by December 2025, which he then avoided by dissolving parliament and calling for
new elections.
United Kingdom Westminster government Between 1977 and 1978,
James Callaghan's
Labour Party stayed in power thanks to a confidence-and-supply agreement with the
Liberal Party, in a deal which became known as the
Lib–Lab Pact. In return, the Labour Party agreed to modest policy concessions for the Liberal Party. In the aftermath of the
2017 general election which left
Theresa May's
Conservative Party without a majority,
a confidence-and-supply agreement was agreed with the
Democratic Unionist Party which lasted until the
2019 general election.
Devolved government Confidence and supply deals are more frequent in the devolved legislatures of Scotland and Wales due to the use of
proportional representation. The
Scottish National Party and
Scottish Green Party had a
confidence and supply deal in the
Scottish Parliament between 2021 and 2024. The
Welsh Labour Party and
Plaid Cymru had a similar co-operation deal in the
Senedd between 2016–October 2017 and
2021–2024. == Notes ==