UK Politics Mega-thread - Page 317

On April 18 2017 23:36 KwarK wrote:

We don't have a constitution. It's only very recently that we passed a law that says we have to call elections at all (like 5 years ago). We have elections because we know we ought to and we'd be pretty upset if they stopped having elections without a very good reason so traditionally we'd have one every four or five years.

The power to dissolve Parliament is part of what is called the Queen's Royal Prerogative. This is a set of powers that belong to the person of the monarch and are wielded on her behalf by the Prime Minister, not by Parliament (unless the tradition changes). Theresa May is the PM and can therefore invoke the power of the Queen to dismiss Parliament and hold an election to elect a new Parliament.

The power to pick the timing of the next election is obviously pretty fucking handy but traditionally there are times during which the PM is somewhat obligated to do it. If the government suffers a defeat on a manifesto pledge, a core policy that was part of their platform for becoming elected, then the government itself is considered to be discredited and incapable of ruling. Therefore they go back to the people and ask for either a stronger majority or for someone else to take over. An example of this in America would have been Trump taking the Obamacare repeal to a vote and losing the vote. If that happened in a Parliamentary system then the entire government would fall. A vote of no confidence also forces an election. A vote of no confidence is just when Parliament collectively vote that they do not have confidence in the government to rule. A government without the confidence of the house is no government but it's unlikely any other government could be formed because the makeup of the house wouldn't have changed significantly so they go to the people and either return with a strengthened majority or face defeat.

edit: I'm told this changed and now Parliament need to sign off on it

On April 18 2017 23:50 ahswtini wrote:

The Parliament Act 1911 set out the 5 year lifetime of parliament, not 5 years between a general election although the two effectively go hand in hand. So it's true the first piece of legislation to actually enforce calling an election was the Fixed-term parliaments act of 2011. The real purpose of that act was not to have the whole calling an election enshrined in law, but was to stop PMs calling tactical elections at times that suit them. With that act, there are now two ways an early election can be called - either a vote of no confidence in the government, or a two thirds majority of the commons vote for it

On April 19 2017 00:40 RvB wrote:
Sorted quickly? You're negotiating with the EU. CETA took 7 years and this isn't going to be any shorter.

On April 19 2017 00:42 Zaros wrote:


There is a fixed 2 year limit on the deal so it can't take any longer than that, if it does take 2 years than Britain just drops out of the EU without any deal.

On April 19 2017 00:42 KwarK wrote:

They'd almost certainly grant an extension. They have the power to.