Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011
The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 is a law of the UK Parliament that was passed on September 15, 2011. Under the provisions of the law, parliamentary elections must take place every five years (from 2015). The introduction of fixed legislative periods for parliament was part of the 2010 coalition agreement between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats after the government was formed in 2010.
background
Before this law was passed, parliament could be dissolved by a royal proclamation. Initially, this enabled the monarch to determine the time for the dissolution of a parliament. Over the centuries, however, the monarch increasingly followed the advice of the prime minister in this regard . Since the 19th century, the prime minister had real power over the date of a general election.
The Seven Years Act 1715 (Septennial Act) provided that a parliament had expired seven years after its summons; the 1911 parliamentary law limited this period to five years. Except during the wartime First and Second World War, when the term of office of Parliament was extended by law, no British parliament reached its maximum duration. The maximum period of five years applies to the legislative period; the time between two parliamentary elections can be a little longer. For example, the 1992 general election took place on April 7 and the 1997 general election took place on May 1, 1997; the House of Commons, elected in 1992, only had a term of 4 years and 11 months (the longest term achieved between World War II and the passage of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act).
Provisions
First, section 3 of the law required that a parliament should be dissolved 17 working days before a parliamentary election day. In 2013, the Electoral Registration and Administration Act changed this provision to 25 working days.
The law stipulates that parliamentary elections must take place on the first Thursday in May in the fifth year after the previous parliamentary election. The first date for this was May 7, 2015. According to Paragraph 1 (5), however, the Prime Minister has the right to postpone the election day by a maximum of two months by means of an ordinance. This ordinance must be approved by both houses (the lower and upper houses).
Section 2 of the Act opens up two options for parliamentary elections before the end of this five-year period:
- Two-thirds of all members of the House of Commons (including vacant seats) vote in favor of early parliamentary elections.
- The House of Commons decides that "this House has no confidence in Her Majesty's Government" and does not overturn that vote by a contrary vote within 14 days by deciding that "this House has confidence in Her Majesty's Government".
If either of these two cases occurs, the monarch (at the suggestion of the Prime Minister) announces the day for the new parliamentary election by means of a royal proclamation. Parliament is dissolved 25 working days before that date.
As a result of the law, minority governments are safer than in the past. Events that could previously overthrow a government (e.g. the failure of a Queen's Speech or a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister, not the entire government) no longer have this effect. The law repealed the Seven Years Law of 1715 and the references in other laws to the royal proclamation to dissolve a parliament.
Circumvention of the law through the Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019
The law can be supplemented or circumvented by a new law; this requires only a simple majority in both chambers of parliament instead of the two-thirds majority provided for in the law.
After Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not achieve the necessary two-thirds majority of the Fixed-term Parliamentary Act for new elections in the House of Commons in September and October 2019 for early elections in three attempts, he introduced the proposed Early Parliamentary General Election Bill , contrary to the provisions of the Fixed-term Parliament Act to be elected on December 12, 2019 . This law was passed by the House of Commons on October 29, 2019 and by the House of Lords on October 30, with a simple majority, and as a result the existing House of Commons was prematurely dissolved.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ That there shall be an early parliamentary general election - Commons Votes. September 4, 2019, accessed October 25, 2019 .
- ↑ That there shall be an early parliamentary general election (No. 2 motion) - CommonsVotes. September 9, 2019, accessed October 25, 2019 .
- ↑ PM to try for 12 December election . October 24, 2019 ( bbc.com [accessed October 25, 2019]).
- ^ Leaders in pre-election clash over NHS, Brexit and economy. BBC News, October 30, 2019, accessed October 30, 2019 .
- ↑ British Parliament dissolved - election campaign officially started. Spiegel Online , November 6, 2019, accessed on the same day