The following article is a list of government defeats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom since 1945; that is, where the government whips have instructed their MPs to vote (or, in rare circumstances, abstain from voting) a certain way on a division of the House and have subsequently been defeated. Whilst most defeats have been on motions or bills scheduled in "government time", on occasion motions proposed by opposition parties or backbench MPs that are critical of government policy or practice, such as opposition day motions, are passed despite the government's efforts.