The public announcement of general elections

Abstract

The public announcement of a dissolution of Parliament and general election is of special interest in the United Kingdom. This is because the date of an election is uncertain. Unlike many other legislatures around the world, the life of the British Parliament is not of a fured duration. It has a maximum duration of five years’ and a dissolution and general election will be held at some point within that five-year period. Since universal adult suffrage was introduced in 1918, the average length of a Parliament has been three years and seven months, but this says nothing about the expected lifetime of any particular Parliament. This has varied widely in practice from less than one year (1922-23, 1924, 1974) to 1 to 2 years (1950-51, 1964-66) to 2 to 3 years (1929-31) to 3 to 4 years (1919-22,1931-35,1970-74, 1983-87) to 4 to 5 years (1924-29, 1945-50, 1951-55, 1955-59, 1959-64, 1966-70, 1974-79, 1979-83) and during the second world war even beyond five years by prolongation statutes (1935-45). Normally it may be expected that a general election will not be held until four years have passed but today this is to say little more than that a government is unlikely to risk losing the election without any special reason until the necessity to do so is upon the horizon. The legal mechanism by which general elections are called is through the Queen’s Proclamation dissolving Parliament and declaring the meeting of another, which then triggers the statutory timetable for election procedure laid down in the Representation of the People Act 1983.2 The advance decision on the dates of dissolution and general election however is a political one and the Constitution convention is for the Queen to be advised on all such matters by the Prime Minister. The present method for the public announcement of general elections is by way of a press notice being issued from IO Downing Street. This happens a few hours after the Prime Minister has visited the Queen to tender his or her advice at Buckingham Palace. The Notice will begin by formally stating that the Prime Minister has today asked Her Majesty the Queen to proclaim a dissolution of Parliament and that Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to signify that she will comply with this request. Then the dates will be laid out in turn for the dissolution of Parliament, the general election, the first day of the new Parliament and the State Opening. This public announcement will take place about a week before the Queen’s Proclamation. Thus at the last election in 1987 the press notice was issued on Monday 1 I May and the dissolution was on Monday 18 May. The Notice is directly distributed by 10 Downing Street officials to the media and the news will be immediately reported by radio, television and the next editions of all newspapers. As a matter of courtesy a personal letter signed by the Prime Minister, sometimes