A thread on proclamations and elections...
When an early GE is triggered under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, the next step is the Queen sets polling day "on the recommendation of the Prime Minister" as required by section 2(7) of that Act. (1/8) legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/14/…
When an early GE is triggered under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, the next step is the Queen sets polling day "on the recommendation of the Prime Minister" as required by section 2(7) of that Act. (1/8) legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/14/…
As an example of this, see this proclamation made on 25 April 2017. This was only made 6 days after the House of Commons voted in favour of an early general election, but could have been made immediately thereafter (2/8) privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/upl…
That proclamation only sets "polling day". But once that's happened, another statutory rule, section 3 of the FTPA, says that Parliament is automatically dissolved at the beginning of the 25th working day before then. No separate proclamation needed. (3/8) legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/14/…
What sometimes happens, however, is the Government seeks to prorogue Parliament for a few days before dissolution. This is usually done if there is "no more business" to wash-up but there are sitting days left. An Order in Council did this in 2017. (4/8) privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/upl…
These arrangements all allow a Parliament to come to an end, but they do not provide for the summoning of the new Parliament in the aftermath of the General Election. The Meeting of Parliament Acts provide for this to be done by a further proclamation (see e.g. 1870 Act). (5/8)
The Meeting of Parliament Acts don't say this has to be done quickly. They only say Parliament must meet at within three years of a GE (see the 1694 Act).
In practice Parliament meets much sooner. The Government would otherwise run out of money. Plus, you know, democracy. (6/8)
In practice Parliament meets much sooner. The Government would otherwise run out of money. Plus, you know, democracy. (6/8)
But it is now standard practice for the proclamation summoning a new Parliament to be issued following dissolution, rather than at the same time as polling day is set. See for example this follow-up proclamation made on 3 May 2017. (7/8) privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/upl…
What does this mean in practice? Well if, say, the Commons agrees to an early General Election motion and then the Government sets the date for that General Election, we might not know for sure how soon the new Parliament will meet until after Parliament has been dissolved. (8/8)
I should add here that I've pasted a screengrab of the original Act. the "17" days was replaced with "25" days in 2013.
