Can Labour call a vote of no confidence? Keir rages as Boris wins vote 'Unfit for office!' | Politics | News | Express.co.uk

Can Labour call a vote of no confidence? Keir rages as Boris wins vote 'Unfit for office!'BORIS JOHNSON has won a vote of no-confidence this evening, following a vote which pushed Labour

leader Keir Starmer to the brink as he issued a raging retort to the Prime Minister. But could Labour do the same and hold their own vote? Here's more on the vote of no confidence. By Katie

Elliott, Senior Personal Finance Reporter based in London 19:54, Mon, Jun 6, 2022 | UPDATED: 21:45, Mon, Jun 6, 2022 Share Article Share Article Facebook X LinkedIn Reddit Bluesky Email Copy

Link Link copied Bookmark Comments Confidence vote will only 'benefit' Labour says Widdecombe

Boris Johnson won the confidence vote in his leadership on Monday night with a margin of 211 to 148. The vote came after 15 per cent of Tory MPs said they could no longer support him,

following the publication of details on lockdown-busting Downing Street parties. The result has stirred uproar amongst the opposition, which begs the question; can Labour table their own no

confidence vote? 

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Under Conservative Party rules, a vote of no confidence is triggered when 15 percent of the party submits letters to the 1922 Committee Chairman demanding a change in leadership.

There are currently 359 Conservative MPs, which means 54 letters of no confidence were required to trigger the ballot.

The letters in the ballot are confidential, and only Committee Chairman Sir Graham Brady has access.

In order to survive the ballot, Mr Johnson needed 180 votes of confidence, which equates to half of his MPs as well as one additional.

READ MORE: Jeremy Hunt 'voting for change' tonight - what else has he voted on?

If the Prime Minister in question were to win, they can continue as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party, and another vote of no confidence would not be able to be called for

another year.

But if they were to lose, the Prime Minister would have to resign. This would then trigger a leadership contest amongst the Conservative Party for the new Prime Minister.

Following tonight's vote, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Johnson was "utterly unfit for the great office he holds" and accused Tory MPs of ignoring the British public.

He said: "The Conservative Government now believes that breaking the law is no impediment to making the law."

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Unlike the Conservative Party, there is no formal vote of no confidence as part of the process of a leadership challenge within the Labour Party.

Despite the Parliamentary Labour Party holding a no-confidence vote in the leader in 2016, Jeremy Corbyn refused to resign and argued that his support among party members outweighed his lack

of support from Labour MPs.

According to the Institute for Government, there is only one way to initiate a leadership challenge against the leader of the Labour Party. This involves a challenger to be nominated by at

least 20 percent of the combined ranks of Labour MPs in written form. This would then trigger a leadership contest.

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Labour can table a vote of no confidence on the Conservative Party using the wording required under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011 (FTPA), which could trigger a general election.

This would typically be given priority by the Government to debate and vote on in the House of Commons.

The last time this motion was laid was by previous Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in 2019, after the Government lost a Commons vote to secure parliamentary backing for its deal for Britain's

withdrawal from the European Union.

The debate was held the day after it was tabled, however, the House rejected the motion against Theresa May’s leadership with a vote of 325 to 306.