The ease with which Theresa May was able to secure an early dissolution last week has led to suggestions that the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 serves no useful purpose and should be scrapped. In a blog posted originally on the Constitution Unit blog, and drawing on wider evidence of how fixed-term parliaments legislations works in other countries, Robert Hazell, Professor of Government and the Constitution at the Constitution Unit, argues that there is a danger that it is being judged prematurely, on the basis of a single episode. Future circumstances in which a Prime Minister seeks a dissolution may be different, and in these cases the Fixed-term Parliaments Act may serve as more of a constraint.
PSA ParliamentsThe UK Political Studies Association Specialist Group on Parliaments