Can a government have too many seats in the House of Commons?

In brief...

• Unlike in the US, there is no concept of a supermajority in UK politics, despite some politicians' warnings.
• A majority of 50-100 seats is suggested as optimal for effective governance, allowing for dissent while avoiding instability or excessive infighting.
• An excessively large majority could destabilize democracy by weakening opposition and causing internal party conflicts.

As Lewis Goodall pointed out on social media, there is no such thing as a ‘supermajority’ in UK politics.

It doesn’t matter how many times Tories such as Grant Shapps and Robert Jenrick warn voters about precisely that.

In the US, a supermajority can give a leading party enhanced powers in Congress or the Senate, but there’s no such bonus on this side of the Atlantic.

However, there could be disadvantages to any government winning an overwhelming majority over its rivals – for the party and the country at large. This could be the case for Keir Starmer and Labour, if voting reflects what we’ve seen in polling in the build-up to the July election.

So is there an ideal number of seats for a government – and why might too many be a bad thing?

The News Agents take a flutter

Lewis Goodall starts the bidding modestly for the ideal number of seats.

“In terms of Parliament working well, probably a majority of between 50 to 60 is quite a sweet spot between allowing parliamentary dissent and ensuring the government has a decent prospect of being defeated so it takes in oppositional views,” he says.

“But also it would have a big enough cushion to get through the business and not to be fundamentally unstable.

“Although no party is ever gonna say, No. I'd like a bit smaller of a majority, please.”

Jon Sopel throws his hat into the ring, raising the stakes slightly.

“The sweet spot for the early years of your parliament is probably a 60-80 seat majority,” he says, adding that this could likely diminish with MPs leaving their roles for various reasons.

“But if you think of the churn that there is – the has beens and the never will-bes, the people that feel pissed off that they lost their job, and then those people who've never been given jobs and just sit languishing on select committees, then, 60-70 suddenly starts to look vulnerable in year three or year four.”

Emily Maitlis outbids them both.

“I think you'd say you'd like 100, wouldn't you? If you were Keir Stamer,” she suggests, as too many more may result in extreme pressure for cabinet jobs.

“You've got 300 - or something - Labour MPs all coming in, they all think they're the next big thing, what the future looks like, they all want those jobs.

“Can you imagine the kind of infighting that will create? And I think that is a problem for any leader, if you've got lots and lots of people who all think they're the future, and they want the jobs.”

Sopel agrees.

“I think 100 is the sweet spot for governing through the whole parliament, but too big a majority creates problems,” he adds.

What's the other big potential problem?

Apart from concerns about infighting over those prime front-bench jobs, there’s one other issue too big a majority could cause, and it’s one that might affect democracy itself.

“If the Conservative Party is reduced to the point where it cannot actually adequately oppose, then you are in a situation where you do open the door to the radicalisation of the party, that could actually, in the longer run, destabilise parliamentary democracy” Goodall says.

“The Conservatives and the Labour Party, for all of their faults, have been the anchors of British parliamentary democracy for a century. They alternate in office – usually Conservatives in government – but they alternate in the office, and they do provide a solidity and a stability to parliamentary democracy.

“We've not really been in a situation since the national governments of the 1920s and 30s when one of the parties was reduced to nugatory status, and so we would be – in terms of how Parliament works now, we would be in uncharted territory that could lead us to a dangerous place, or a difficult place.”

Although not everyone might see this as a concern.

“I can hear Labour saying all of these are nice problems to have,” Maitlis concludes.

Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents podcast now.