So this is an image from Electoral Reform Society and the whole comment which is submitted by Thea Ridley-Castle can be obtained from here. Most of her text is also included below, but before that text here is a comment of a e-petition that is currently available which is 641904 which can be obtained from here and it is entitled Call an immediate general election and it currently only has 240 signatures. However if it is supported it will enable some of the MPs to respond it with the piece from Thea. So her is the text for the petition.
The Prime Minister should call an immediate general election to allow the British public to have their say on how we are governed, we should not be made to wait until January 2025. Consistent opinion polling has shown the British public have lost confidence in the current government. The NHS is in crisis, the asylum system is broken, there are delays at the ports, and institutions are failing. The British people should be given a say on what to do next.
As it happens there are several other e-Petitions which took place in the last year on very similar themes. One began on July last year which was entitled Change the law so that UK citizens can call a General election that was submitted by David Simpson and the 618068 unit achieved 1,232 signatures. On 30th January this year one was entitled Call a General Election which was published by Shaun Bacon. It was 631901 and it obtained 2,125 signatures by the end of its time. There was another which published on 5th September last year as 621931 with the headline Hold a General Election within 100 days of the new PM being appointed which was published by Simon Matthew Dodd and it achieved 22,064 signatures by early March this year. Another on last July was submitted by Darrin Charlesworth who created Call an immediate general election to end the chaos of the current government and the 619781 item reached a massive 906,623 signatures which was very significant.
So now we can go for the contribution from Thea Ridley-Castle
Short, long, or in-between: How long do parliaments last?
Regular elections are a core part of any democracy, but how regular should they be? There has been a lot of variety on what the right length is, both around the world and in the history of the UK.
In the UK, the maximum term length of a Parliament is five years from the day on which the Parliament first met. This is within the upper end of the norm for term lengths in well-established parliamentary democracies worldwide.
Parliamentary term lengths in England and Britain
Whilst we are relatively used to 5-year terms nowadays, this was not always the case. Historically parliaments could last pretty much any length of time. The shortest parliament, known as the Short Parliament, sat for only 3 weeks in 1640 from the 13th April-5th May, it was called after an 11-year absence of Parliamentary rule where King Charles I led by Personal Rule as an autocratic absolute monarch. This was followed swiftly by the longest parliament, which was called in September 1640, it became known as the Long Parliament which would not legally end until 1660, meaning the longest-sitting Parliament in UK history sat for 20 years.
These years spanned the English Civil War and saw the parliament forcibly purged, disbanded and eventually reconvened after the death of Cromwell.
There were various attempts at Triennial Acts across this period, in 1641, 1664 and 1694, which mandated that Parliament must meet annually and hold a general election every 3 years. The constant elections and campaigning resulted in the Septennial Act of 1716 which increase the maximum length of a Parliamentary term to 7 years and allowed for a general election to be called between the 3rd and 7th sitting year. Around 200 years later the Parliamentary Act 1911 reduced the maximum Parliamentary term length to 5 years.
More recently, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act (2011) passed during the Lib Dem-Tory coalition years, mandated that elections be held every 5 years on the first Thursday in May. There was a caveat in place that a general election could be called if two-thirds of the House of Commons voted for an early general election or the government lost the confidence of the House.
During this time there were two notable general elections which were held earlier than the 5-year term:
- 19 April 2017, MPs voted by 522 to 13 to allow an early general election on 8 June 2017.
- 31 October 2019, Parliament passed legislation to allow for a parliamentary general election on 12 December 2019.
Until the time it was repealed in 2022, by the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act, it was the only time that a sitting Prime Minister could not advise the monarch to use their royal prerogative to call a General Election.
The current Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act reinstated the rules of the Parliamentary Act 1911.
ianchisnall 