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The summoning and meeting of new Parliaments in the United Kingdom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Robert Blackburn
Robert Blackburn*
Affiliation:
King’s College London
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Extract

Parliamentary election law in the United Kingdom has been the subject of much review in Westminster and Whitehall over the past few years. The last Parliament, 1983-87, extended the franchise to British citizens temporarily resident overseas, and allowed for a greater use of postal and proxy voting. The amount of a parliamentary candidate's deposit was increased from the 1918 figure of £l50 to £500, and the threshold below which it is forfeited was reduced from 121/2% to 5% of valid votes cast. The law relating to the work of the Boundary Commissions was consolidated, and most recently the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee has reported its recommendations upon redistribution of seats, including among them a proposal for a stabilisation in the number of constituencies at its present level of 650.

Type
Research Article
Information
Legal Studies , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , July 1989 , pp. 165 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Legal Scholars 1989

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References

1 Both aforegoing changes were made by the Representation of the People Act 1985 (c 50).

2 Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 (c 56).

3 ‘Redistribution of Seats’, Second Report from the Home Affairs Committee, HC (1986–87) 97–1.

4 See below, p 167.

5 For comparison with the provisions made in the written constitutions of other European states, see G. Hand, J. Georgel and C. Sasse (eds, European Electoral Systems Handbook (1979); and with the American model, K. Bradshaw and D. Pring, Parliament and Congress (2nd edn, 1981).

6 Generally, see S. A. de Smith, Constitutional and Administrative Law (5th edn, 1985 by H. Street & R. Brazier), ch 6.

7 See below, p 172.

8 A termination of Parliament may occur through expiry of its maximum duration of five years, under the Septennial Act 17 15 as amended by s 7 of the Parliament Act 1911, or the exercise of the prerogative power of dissolution by the Sovereign upon the advice of the Prime Minister. Generally see E. C. S. Wade and A. W. Bradley, Constitutional and Administrative Law (10th edn, 1985) pp 170–172, and G. Marshall, Constitutional Conventionr (1984) ch III.

9 [1985) 1 AC 528, (1984) 3 All ER 935, and Lord Roskill obiter at 956. Generally on judicial review of the prerogative, see de Smith, op cit, pp 139f.

10 See de Smith, op cit, pp 145/6.

11 Subject to the Regency Act 1937, as amended by the Regency Acts 1943 and 1953, which provide for a regency where the Sovereign is under 18 years old, incapacitated through physical or mental illness, or ‘for some definite cause not available’ for the performance of the royal functions. Generally see de Smith, op cit, pp 137–138.

12 16 Charles I, c 1.

13 16 Charles II, c 1 (the second Triennial Act).

14 Op cit, Volume I: Parliament (5th edn, 1922) p 324

15 6 & 7 William and Mary, c 2. The Act otherwise (at its sections 3 and 4, which were repealed by the Septennial Act 1715) dealt with a three year maximum duration for a Parliament.

16 4 Edward III, c 14.

17 1 William and Mary, c 36.

18 See Congreve v Home Office (1976) QB 629.

19 See Attorney-General v Wilts United Dairies Ltd (1922) 38 TLR 781

20 Op cit, p 751.

21 For a general account of financial business in Parliament, see de Smith, op cit, pp 295–303.

22 See Eriskine May's Parliamentary Practice (20th edn, 1983), p 57 and Robert, Blackburn, ‘The Armed Forces in Legal History’, 5 The Journal of Legal History (1984) p 167. Google Scholar

23 See Professor Colonel Draper in a letter to The Times, 17 June 1981.

24 The Law and the Constitution (5th edn, 1959) p 136.

25 Even if he actually invented neither the concept nor the term: see O. Hood Phillips, ‘Constitutional Conventions: Dicey's Predecessor’, 29 Modem Law Review (1966) p 137.

26 The Law of the Constitution (2nd edn, 1886) p 374.

27 The Constitution of England from Queen Victoria to George VI (1940), Vol I, pp 327/8.

28 1983, c2.

29 Section 28(2) of the Representation of the People Act 1985 (c 50) repealed a former requirement in s 2 1(3) of the Representation of the People Act 1918 (c 64) that a minimum period of 20 days from the Proclamation summoning Parliament to the date of first meeting must be allowed to elapse.

30 Section I of the Prorogation Act 1867 (c 81).

31 In 1918 and 1945 a greater than usual delay was necessary because the count involved collecting postal votes from members of the armed forces overseas.

32 The 326th constituency victory for the Conservatives (giving their party a majority) was declared at precisely 2.33am on 12 June, only y hours after polling had ceased at 10pm on 11 June. See D. Butler and D. Kavanagh, The British General Election of 1987 (1988) p 119.

33 See R. Brazier, Constitutional Practice (1988), Appendix B.

34 D. Butler and D. Kavanagh, The British General Election of 1979 (1980) p 199.