(Minister of State (Cabinet Office)):
Today, the Government publishes in draft the Fixed-term
Parliaments Act 2011 (Repeal) Bill, which is required to repeal
the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (FTPA), and in doing so
revive the prerogative power to dissolve Parliament.
The Bill makes express provision that the dissolution prerogative
is to be revived to ensure legal, constitutional and political
certainty around the process for dissolving Parliament. There
will be an ouster clause in the Bill to reinforce the long
standing position that the exercise of the dissolution
prerogative is not reviewable by the Courts.
The Bill retains certain aspects of the FTPA to ensure the
continued operability of our electoral system. The Bill does not
change the 25 working day period between dissolution and polling
day. The Bill also contains provision to fix the maximum length
of a Parliament at five years, thereby returning to the pre-FTPA
position.
There will also be provision made in the Bill to give the Prime
Minister the discretion, within clearly defined limits, to set a
new polling day in the event of the demise of the Crown. Under
Section 20 of the Representation of the People Act 1985, in the
event of the demise of the Crown after a proclamation summoning a
new Parliament, polling day is postponed by a fortnight. The 1985
Act provides no discretion or flexibility to further alter the
date of the poll and had demise occurred after the dissolution of
Parliament for the 2019 election the polling day would have been
postponed to 27 December (the day after Boxing Day). In these
very unlikely circumstances, the Prime Minister has the
discretion to move the polling day up to seven days either side
of this default fourteen day postponement.
I am also depositing in the libraries of both Houses a draft
document setting out the Government’s initial thinking on the
non-legislative constitutional principles that will need to
underpin the exercise of the prerogative powers to dissolve
Parliament. The Government would welcome the joint committee and
other parliamentary select committees giving consideration to
these underpinning conventions.
The FTPA was a departure from the long-term constitutional norm,
whereby the Prime Minister could seek an early dissolution of
Parliament. It was passed with limited scrutiny, and created
parliamentary paralysis at a critical time for our country. This
Bill, in returning our constitutional system to the pre-FTPA
status quo ante, will enable the Government, within the life of a
Parliament, to call a general election at the time of their
choosing, and allow the people to decide on their Government.
It is vital that this important part of our constitutional
settlement is given careful consideration and we welcome the
forthcoming scrutiny of the draft Bill to ensure that what
replaces the FTPA is subject to greater scrutiny.
