[crazywelsh101]

Introductory Text

1.Polling days for parliamentary general elections

2.Early parliamentary general elections

3.Dissolution of Parliament

4.General election for Scottish Parliament not to fall on same date as parliamentary general election under section 1(2)

5.General election for National Assembly for Wales not to fall on same date as parliamentary general election under section 1(2)

6.Supplementary provisions

7.Final provisions

The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (c. 14) (FTPA) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that for the first time sets in legislation a default fixed election date for a general election to the Westminster parliament. Elections were previously required to be held at least once every five years. An election would usually take place before the end of the five-year term, and even early in the term, at any time when the prime minister so advised the monarch; this was seen as unfairly advantaging an incumbent prime minister. An election could also take place at any time following a vote of no confidence in the government; the motion required an ordinary simple majority of those voting and, according to constitutional convention, the government would then have to resign.

Under the FTPA, the next general election is automatically scheduled for the first Thursday in May of the fifth year after the previous general election—or the fourth year if the date of the previous election was before the first Thursday in May. However, the FTPA provides two ways to hold an early election. One is that the Act provides a statutory basis for an early election following a Commons vote of no confidence in the government, which still requires only a simple majority of those voting. The other is a vote for an early election, which requires a qualified majority—two thirds of the total membership of the Commons