The House of Lords Constitution Committee has today expressed concern about repeated breaches of collective responsibility under the coalition government and called on the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister to set out rules clarifying when and how ministers can express differing views. The report highlights a number of areas where the coalition partners have disagreed publicly which were not identified in 2010 Programme for Government. The committee observes that these disagreements have undermined the constitutional principle that ministers who are not prepared to defend government policy are expected to resign. The committee sets out apparently unprecedented examples - such as ministers being whipped into different voting lobbies on proposals to amend parliamentary constituencies, and Conservative ministers not being required to vote against an amendment to the address on the Queen’s Speech - which suggest new rules on collective responsibility under coalition governments are now required. This is one of a number of issues which the committee believes should be addressed by political parties and the Government before the next general election.