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Dissolution And Calling Of Parliament Act 2022

Contents

Commentary on provisions of Act

Section 1: Repeal of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011

  1. Section 1 repeals the 2011 Act.

Section 2: Revival of prerogative powers to dissolve Parliament and to call a new Parliament

  1. Subsection (1) makes express provision to make the prerogative powers relating to the dissolution of Parliament and the calling of a new Parliament exercisable again, as if the 2011 Act had never been enacted. This means that, as was the case prior to the 2011 Act, Parliament can be dissolved by the Sovereign, exercising the revived prerogative power, on the request of the Prime Minister.
  2. Subsection (2) confirms that powers relating to the calling of a new Parliament include powers relating to the issue of writs of summons to the House of Lords and writs for parliamentary elections.
  3. Section 2 allows for a return to the practice described in paragraph 7 whereby the Proclamation summoning the new Parliament also dissolves the previous Parliament, unless the Parliament has reached its full term (in which case Parliament will dissolve automatically under section 4).

Section 3: Non-justiciability of revived prerogative powers

  1. Section 3 confirms that the exercise (or purported exercise) of powers relating to the dissolution of Parliament, and the calling of a new Parliament, is non-justiciable and be reviewed by a court or tribunal. This reaffirms the long standing and generally accepted position that existed prior to the 2011 Act (referred to in paragraphs 8 and 9 above). 1 This provision is included for the avoidance of any doubt that may arise and to preserve the long standing and generally accepted position. 
  2. Section 3 covers any decisions (or purported decisions) relating to the powers to dissolve one Parliament and call another. This is to ensure that any preliminary steps leading to the exercise of these powers – including any request to the Sovereign to dissolve Parliament and any related advice – are non-justiciable and cannot be reviewed by a court or tribunal. 
  3. Section 3 further provides that a court or tribunal cannot consider the limits or extent of those powers. This is to address the distinction drawn by the Supreme Court in Miller v The Prime Minister, Cherry and Others v The Advocate General for Scotland [2019] UKSC 41 as regards the court’s role in reviewing the scope of a prerogative power, as opposed to its exercise. It seeks to clarify that neither is justiciable in the context of decisions relating to the dissolution of one Parliament and the calling of another.

Section 4: Automatic dissolution of Parliament after five years

  1. Section 4 provides that Parliament will automatically dissolve five years after it has first met. By making express provision for a maximum parliamentary term of five years, this is broadly a return to the position prior to the 2011 Act under the Septennial Act 1715 (as amended by the Parliament Act 1911). However, for the purposes of simplicity the start of the five-year term will now be the date on which Parliament actually first meets rather than the date on which the Parliament was summoned to meet, as it was under the 1715 Act. In practice those dates were usually the same. 2

Section 5: Minor and consequential amendments and savings

  1. Subsection (1) introduces the Schedule to the Bill, which contains minor and consequential amendments.
  2. Subsection (2) saves the amendments and repeals of other Acts of Parliament which were made by the Schedule to the 2011 Act and need to remain on the statute book.

Section 6: Extent, commencement and short title

  1. Subsection (1) provides that the Act extends to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
  2. Subsection (3) provides that the Act comes into force on Royal Assent.
  3. Subsection (4) establishes the short title as the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022.

Schedule: Minor and consequential amendments

  1. The Schedule contains minor and consequential amendments to primary and secondary legislation. These are primarily to reverse amendments made by the 2011 Act, to remove references to the 2011 Act and to ensure that after the repeal of the 2011 Act the relevant legislation still works (for example to amend provisions passed after the 2011 Act which were drafted on the basis of a fixed election cycle). The key amendments are:
    • Rule 1 of Schedule 1 to the Representation of the People Act 1983 (which sets out the election timetable) is amended to provide that the trigger for the election process in the case of a parliamentary general election is the dissolution of Parliament (whether by exercise of the prerogative or by virtue of section 4) (paragraph 8(2)(a) of the Schedule). Provision is also made, in order to give additional certainty in relation to election process, so that the election writ is deemed to have been received the day after the dissolution of Parliament (or in the case of a by-election, the day after the date of the warrant for the writ) (paragraph 8(2)(b) and (c)(ii)). Equivalent changes are made to other provisions of the 1983 Act that depend on the date of the receipt of the writ (sections 28 and 95) (paragraphs 5 and 7 of the Schedule).
    • Section 20 of the Representation of the People Act 1985 is amended. Previously that section provided that, in the event of the demise of the Crown during an election period (or up to 7 days beforehand), the polling day and the date set for the first meeting of Parliament were automatically postponed by 14 days. The amendments to the Representation of the People Act 1985 mean that the polling day may, by Royal Proclamation on the advice of the Privy Council, be moved by up to 7 days either side of this default 14 day postponement. The date of the first meeting of the new Parliament may also be moved by Royal Proclamation on the advice of the Privy Council (paragraph 9 of the Schedule).
    • Section 95A of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 is amended to implement a maximum 365 day reporting period for third party donations where third party donations are reported quarterly, beginning four years from the first sitting of the current Parliament (paragraph 15 of the Schedule). This period will end on dissolution, whether by exercise of the prerogative or automatic expiry at the end of a five year term, as third-parties will begin weekly donations reporting from that point.
    • The Recall of MPs Act 2015 is amended to ensure that there continues to be provision to prevent or terminate recall petitions close to a general election to avoid redundant by-elections. The amendments mean there is no requirement to trigger a recall petition if the last possible polling day for a general election (based on Parliament running its full term) is less than six months away (paragraph 25 of the Schedule) and a recall petition is to be terminated when Parliament is dissolved (paragraph 26 of the Schedule). These amendments do not change the conditions which can trigger a recall petition, do not change how a recall petition is to be conducted and do not impact what happens in the event that a recall petition meets the signing threshold and successfully leads to a by-election.

1 See the Independent Review of Administrative Law , paragraph 2.84.

2 Two exceptions were in 1919 and 1924, when the date of Parliament’s first meeting was postponed by a few weeks.

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