What is the standard for triggering a vote of No Confidence?

Posted by PhysicsEagle@reddit | AskABrit | View on Reddit | 115 comments

Votes of No Confidence to remove the Head of Government is an element of the Parliamentary system the American system doesn’t have. Sure, we have impeachment, but as that requires two-thirds of both chambers of the legislature it’s only been tried four times in our history and none have succeeded. The standard for bringing an impeachment charge is as a result incredibly high, so as to surmount any partisan bias. The official language is “High Crimes and Misdemeanors,” but that’s so ambiguous as to be mostly useless. Whereas in your system a simple majority of the Commons can remove the PM. This has happened many times. When is it acceptable to hold a No Confidence vote and what standard of behavior from the PM or the Government requires one?