To what extent has Coalition Government affected the role and functions of Prime Minister and Cabinet - Essay Example

During such times, parties will opt to form grand coalitions or all party coalitions. In an instance where the coalition inevitably collapses or fails, a confidence vote is held. The idea behind collective responsibility in mostly related to an instance when say a vote of no confidence is passed in the parliament. Therefore, this will mean that all the ministers that form the cabinet are responsible for any arrangements that have been performed in relation to running of the government. This system basically tries to show the faith in the whole government as a whole in making day to day decisions.

Collective ministerial responsibility simply implies that the government will collectively account to the parliament for the polices, actions and any decisions that they pass. However, the idea of collective responsibility means that for any decision or action to be made, all the members of the coalition must come into an agreement. This may slow down the government especially in instances where the two parties fail to come to an agreement. The government will be at a standstill. But at the end of the idea, the fact remains that collective decision making is favorable because it is more likely that better decisions will be reached and the decisions will mostly have the citizen’s best interest at heart.

Collective responsibility is easy to maintain in a coalition government where the Prime Minister is kept as the keystone of the entire government. This is however not always the case. This is happens as there are instances when the coalition government is formed into a single party government. However, currently, people are highly enlightened, which makes collective responsibility a problem in some instances. For example, ministers now have their own advisors who may influence their decision and in addition, they freely communicate to the media without considering the impact of their action to them and the entire cabinet as a