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Fixed term parliament...

(6 Posts)
MayBee70 Wed 03-Mar-21 18:15:23

Can someone explain to me the implications of changing from this fixed term parliament ruling that we have at the moment. For some reason we seem to have had more elections since that came into force than we did before. Was scrapping it in the party manifesto? Is the country veering towards some kind of dictatorship??

Blossoming Thu 04-Mar-21 19:39:07

Scrapping the Act was indeed in the manifesto. It goes into the implications of rescinding the Act.

www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-fulfil-manifesto-commitment-and-scrap-fixed-term-parliaments-act

NellG Thu 04-Mar-21 19:46:42

It doesn't look like it MayBee, even if they do dissolve the fixed term parliament act there will still be an election very five years - or a least parliament will still be dissolved every five year, usually triggering an election. It'll just go back to how it used to be and we wont be turning out to vote every five minutes.

Urmstongran Thu 04-Mar-21 19:53:12

I think it means that a government can call for a GE whoever it suits them best.

MaizieD Thu 04-Mar-21 20:02:23

Urmstongran

I think it means that a government can call for a GE whoever it suits them best.

The Fixed Term Parliament Act doesn't really seem to have stopped them doing that...

I never saw the point of it. Will be happy to revert to what applied previously. Though I suspect that it won't be exactly the same...

Urmstongran Thu 04-Mar-21 20:24:56

No ... When Boris wanted to call a GE he had to wait for Corbyn to agree to it as the fixed term wasn’t up. In a letter, he told Corbyn it is "our duty to end this nightmare" over Brexit. To howls of protests from Labour backbenchers Corbyn agreed to it. The rest, as they say, is history.