Queen's Speech 2021 - Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill

Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill

“My Government will strengthen and renew democracy and the constitution. Legislation will be introduced to...restore the balance of power between the executive, legislature and the courts.”

The purpose of the Bill is to:

• ● Deliver the manifesto commitment to repeal the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011.

• ● Restore tried and tested powers for bringing forward UK general elections.

• ● Reinstate the constitutional principle whereby the Government of the day has the confidence of the House of Commons and is able to seek a fresh democratic mandate from the British public when it is needed.

  The main benefits of the Bill would be:

• ● Enabling the Prime Minister to decide to put the power back in the hands of the public during critical moments for the country; preventing stalemates in Parliament from paralysing democracy (as happened in the last Parliament).

• ● Providing increased legal, constitutional and political certainty around the process of dissolving Parliament, while providing flexibility for exceptional circumstances.

• ● Restoring the essential link between confidence and dissolution, enabling critical Parliamentary votes to once more be designated as matters of confidence - which, if lost, trigger a general election.

  The main elements of the Bill are:

• ● Repealing the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (‘2011 Act’).

• ● Reviving the prerogative powers relating to the dissolution of Parliament, and the

  calling of a new Parliament.

• ● Reaffirming the long-standing position that the courts may not block a dissolution (and hence a general election) through a non-justiciability clause.

  Territorial extent and application

● The provisions in this Bill will extend and apply to the whole of the UK. Elections to the UK Parliament remains a reserved matter.

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Key facts

• ● This Bill will repeal the 2011 Act and re-establish the long-standing constitutional norm, whereby the Sovereign may grant a dissolution of Parliament following a request from the Prime Minister.

• ● Under the 2011 Act, a UK Parliamentary election can currently only be triggered outside of the normal Parliamentary cycle by one of two scenarios: if two-thirds of the House of Commons vote in favour of one, or if the Government loses a vote of no confidence.

• ● Certain prerogative powers remain with the Sovereign and are exercised by the Sovereign on the advice of, or in the case of dissolution, at the request of the Prime Minister. In this case, the revival of these specific prerogative powers will enable Governments, within the life of a Parliament, to call a general election at the time of their choosing.

• ● Detailed pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Bill has been completed by the Joint Committee on the Fixed-term Parliaments Act. The Committee welcomed the repeal and noted that the Bill was drafted clearly “to give effect to the Government’s intention of returning to the constitutional position before the passing of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011”

• ● The Government has introduced this constitutional reform on the basis of scrutiny from Parliament and crafting consensus among Parliamentarians in both Houses.