King Charles III
28-571: Short Money is the common name for the annual payment to opposition parties in the United Kingdom House of Commons to help them with their costs. It includes funding to assist an opposition party in carrying out its parliamentary business, for travel and associated expenses, and for the running costs of the Leader of the Opposition's office. It is named after Edward Short , the then- Leader of
56-1104: A large, dispersed voter base such as Reform UK and the Green Party . In his July 2015 budget, George Osborne cut Short Money by 19%, although the news did not emerge until the Autumn statement in November. The move was strongly criticised but Ministers argued that other areas of public finance were being similarly cut. Indexation was also linked to CPI rather than the more generous RPI inflation. Official Opposition (UK) [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition , commonly known as
84-829: Is a Scottish judge who has been President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom since January 2020. He was the principal judge in the Commercial Court in Scotland before being promoted to the Inner House of the Court of Session in 2008. He is an authority on human rights law in Scotland and elsewhere; he served as one of the UK's ad hoc judges at the European Court of Human Rights . He
112-609: Is sitting. The Leader of the Opposition has six questions, which they sometimes split into two sets. Backbench opposition MPs and frontbench opposition MPs that are not in the Shadow Cabinet also have the right to question the Prime Minister; they are selected either through a ballot, or by "catching the Speaker's eye". By convention, other Shadow Cabinet members do not question the Prime Minister at PMQs, except when standing in for
140-536: Is usual with Westminster systems , and other statutory assemblies and councils in the UK, the government and its supporters sit to the Speaker's right, whilst the opposition parties sit to their left. Currently, members from the Labour Party sit to the Speaker's right, and members from the Conservative Party sit on the main left bench, which is where the main opposition party sits. The second main opposition bench
168-880: Is where the third largest party sits, in this case the Liberal Democrats . The back of this bench is where other minor parties sit, such as the Scottish National Party , Reform UK , the Green Party , the DUP , Plaid Cymru , SDLP , the Alliance Party , the TUV , the UUP , and the Independents . Robert Reed, Baron Reed of Allermuir Robert John Reed, Baron Reed of Allermuir , PC , FRSE (born 7 September 1956)
196-563: The Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong . On 30 March 2022, he tendered his resignation as a Hong Kong judge, citing concerns about the national security law . Reed was appointed Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in May 2018, succeeding Lord Mance on his retirement. He was sworn into the new position on 6 June 2018. On 25 January 2019, he was made an Honorary Fellow of The Academy of Experts in recognition of his contribution and work for Expert Witnesses. On 24 July 2019,
224-742: The Official Opposition (or colloquially The Opposition ) in the United Kingdom , is the main political opposition to His Majesty's Government . This is usually the political party with the second-largest number of seats in the House of Commons , as the largest party will usually form the government. Since July 2024 , the Official Opposition has been the Conservative Party , with outgoing prime minister Rishi Sunak serving as Leader of
252-620: The School of Law of the University of Glasgow since 2006. On 20 December 2011, it was announced that Reed would replace the late Lord Rodger of Earlsferry as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom . He was sworn in on 6 February 2012. Lord Reed was Convener of the Children in Scotland Board from February 2006–March 2012. On 31 May 2017, he assumed office as a Non-Permanent Judge of
280-447: The Whigs and Tories were the two main parties). The phrase was originally coined in jest; in attacking Foreign Secretary George Canning in the House of Commons , John Hobhouse said jokingly, "It is said to be hard on His Majesty's Ministers to raise objections of this character but it is more hard on His Majesty's Opposition to compel them to take this course." Whilst most days in
308-597: The House of Commons who first proposed the payments. Cranborne Money is its counterpart in the House of Lords . Short Money was introduced by the Harold Wilson Government of 1974–76 following a commitment in the Queen's Speech of 12 March 1974: "My Ministers will consider the provision of financial assistance to enable Opposition parties more effectively to fulfil their Parliamentary functions". Edward Short fleshed out
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#1732844655820336-486: The House of Commons are set aside for government business, twenty days in each session are set aside for opposition debates. Of these days, seventeen are at the disposal of the Leader of the Opposition and three can be used by the leader of the smaller, or tertiary, opposition party. This has been the Liberal Democrats since the 2024 General Election . Although the Opposition has no more formal powers in setting
364-484: The House of Lords on 16 January. Writing for the UK Constitutional Law Association, Lewis Graham of the University of Oxford examined the empirical evidence relating to judgements of the Supreme Court under Reed up to April 2022, and found that it has been "more conservative when it comes to public law" compared to previous years. Lord Reed's judgments are characterised by an in-depth analysis of
392-516: The Leader. Every government department is subjected to questions in the House of Commons and the House of Lords . As with PMQs, the official opposition spokespersons are allocated a number of questions, and in addition backbench MPs are free to ask questions. In the House of Lords, opposition spokespersons also question the government. This is one of the reasons why every government department has at least one Member of Parliament and one peer in it. As
420-408: The Opposition until the Conservative Party leadership election in November 2024 when newly elected party leader Kemi Badenoch took over the position. The phrase His Majesty's Opposition was coined in 1826, before the advent of the modern two-party system , when Parliament consisted more of interests, relationships and factions rather than the highly coherent political parties of today (although
448-458: The Opposition has, like the Prime Minister, always been a member of the House of Commons. Before that a member of the House of Lords sometimes took on the role, although often there was no overall Leader of the Opposition. Although there has never been a dispute as to who holds the position, under the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975, the speaker's decision on the identity of the Leader of
476-427: The Opposition is final. As of 2 November 2024, the current Leader of the Opposition is Kemi Badenoch who is also leader of the Conservative Party. She replaced Rishi Sunak after winning the 2024 Conservative Party leadership election . The most public parliamentary function of the Leader of the Opposition is Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs), currently a 30-minute session held on Wednesday at noon when Parliament
504-513: The Parliamentary agenda, in reality they have a certain influence through a process known as the usual channels . The Leader of His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition is often seen as the Prime Minister -in-waiting. The Leader of the Opposition receives a statutory salary and perquisites like those of a cabinet minister , including appointment as a Privy Counsellor . Since 1915, the Leader of
532-523: The Queen declared her intention to appoint him President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and to raise him to the peerage. He succeeded Baroness Hale of Richmond as President on 11 January 2020 on her retirement and on the same day was created a life peer as Baron Reed of Allermuir , of Sundridge Park in the London Borough of Bromley . He was sworn in as president on 13 January and introduced to
560-408: The Queen's Speech, I have had very helpful discussions with the parties opposite. I now plan to bring firm proposals before the House in the autumn. The current scheme is administered under a resolution of the House of Commons of 26 May 1999. Short Money is made available to all opposition parties in the House of Commons that secured either at least two seats or one seat and more than 150,000 votes at
588-511: The country's College of Justice , in 1998, with the judicial title Lord Reed . He sat initially as a Judge of the Outer House , becoming Principal Commercial Judge in 2006. He has been one of the United Kingdom's ad hoc judges at the European Court of Human Rights , and sat in the Grand Chamber judgements on the appeals of the killers of James Bulger in 1999. Between 2002 and 2004, Reed
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#1732844655820616-458: The employment of staff and related support to Members designated as that party's spokesman in relation to the party's representative business'. This is calculated on the same terms as Short Money. Other opposition parties have access to Short Money to support parliamentary business only and no equivalent extension for representative work. In the financial year commencing 1 April 2023, eligible parties receive: The funding helps support parties with
644-517: The previous general election. The scheme has three components: Short Money is not available to parties whose members have not sworn the Oath of Allegiance (such as Sinn Féin ), because it was introduced to offer assistance for parliamentary duties. A separate scheme (introduced on 8 February 2006) provides funds to parties 'represented by Members who have chosen not to take their seats', providing for 'expenses wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred for
672-570: The proposal in a statement on Members' allowances in July 1974: A more immediate need is to provide additional support for the Opposition parties in Parliament — support which they certainly require if they are to play their full part here. The then Opposition and, I believe, the whole House benefited greatly from the Rowntree scheme , but more permanent arrangements are now necessary. Following our commitment in
700-856: Was President of the EU Forum of Judges for the Environment from 2006 to 2008, now serving as Vice-President. He was a member of the Advisory Board of the British Institute for International and Comparative Law from 2001 to 06, and of the UN Task Force on Access to Justice since 2006. He is Convener of the charity Children in Scotland (since 2006) and Chairman of the University of Edinburgh Centre for Commercial Law (since 2008). He has been an Honorary Professor of Law at Glasgow Caledonian University since 2005, and
728-650: Was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1983. Reed was Standing Junior Counsel to the Scottish Education Department from 1988 to 1989, and to the Scottish Office Home and Health Department from 1989 to 1995. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1995, and Advocate Depute in 1996. He was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice , a judge of the Court of Session and High Court of Justiciary ,
756-505: Was also a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong . Reed was educated at George Watson's College in Edinburgh (where he was dux ), and studied at the School of Law of the University of Edinburgh , taking a first class honours LLB degree and winning a Vans Dunlop Scholarship. He then obtained a DPhil at Balliol College, Oxford , with a doctoral thesis on "Legal Control of Government Assistance to Industry", and
784-672: Was an expert advisor to the EU/ Council of Europe Joint Initiative with Turkey. He was promoted to the Inner House (First Division) in 2008, and appointed to the Privy Council . He sat on the UK Supreme Court during the illness of Lord Rodger of Earlsferry , along with Lord Clarke , and succeeded Lord Rodger. He has been Chairman of the Franco-British Judicial Co-operation Committee since 2005, and
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