Opposition day

An opposition day is a day in a legislature using the Westminster system in which an opposition party sets the agenda. Most days the parliamentary agenda is set by the government; opposition days allow the smaller parties to choose the subject for debate. The number of days varies between parliaments. In the United Kingdom there are twenty opposition days per parliamentary session, and in Canada there are twenty-two.[1] The days are divided among opposition parties with the Official Opposition allotted the most; In the UK, the Official Opposition party is given 17 opposition days, and the second biggest opposition party given 3 days. Canadian opposition parties are allocated days, which are also called "allotted" or "supply" days, in proportion to their membership in the House. There are no opposition days in Australian jurisdictions. In India, the Parliament does not have an opposition day, but one day every week (Friday) during a session is devoted to private members' bills and resolutions.

Originally, opposition days were associated with debates over supply and held prior to the estimates and the budget and were created so that opposition parties could advance ideas for what should and should not be funded. In modern politics, opposition days are most often used to bring up issues that the government would rather ignore. Typically, governments seek to amend opposition day motions to support their own policy.

On 29 April 2009, the British government was defeated in an opposition day vote on the subject of settlement rights for veterans of the Gurkhas. This was the first time since January 1978 that the government had lost an opposition day vote.[2] All opposition day motions since the 2017 general election have been passed as a result of the Conservative minority government refusing to amend the motions or divide the House, leading Scottish National Party MP Pete Wishart to accuse the Government of "degrading [them] to little more than adjournment debates".[3]

References
  1. "Glossary of Parliamentary Procedure - House of Commons". www.ourcommons.ca. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  2. Sparrow, Andrew (29 April 2009). "Defeat for Gordon Brown over Gurkhas". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  3. Mairs, Nicholas (14 September 2017). "Government under fire over 'jaw dropping' move to dodge opposition day votes". PoliticsHome. Retrieved 13 February 2019.


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