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In theory, could Parliament initiate a snap election? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I was just thinking about the way the British constituiton works. I know that it is in the hands of the PM to decide when Parliament is to be dissolved and a GE is to be called. But if a majority in Parliament wanted a snap election yet the PM was refusing to call one, then couldn't they just pass a bill declaring an early election, which would bypass the PM due to the principle of parliamentary supremacy?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

As other people have pointed out, a vote of no confidence is the conventional way of doing this. Passing a bill is complicated and requires multiple readings, whereas a vote of no confidence is a single division.

The House of Commons Library has a page on VONCs, with links to more information explaining exactly how they work. As the page explains, a VONC doesn't have to lead to a general election, but it normally does.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Oh, that makes sense. I was going to ask whether that means the Early General Election Act 2019 had to go through this complicated process too, but I see that Wikipedia says:

The Act was fast-tracked in its passage through Parliament, meaning that it completed all of its stages in the House of Commons in a single day, on 29 October 2019, and received its formal First Reading in the House of Lords on the same day.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Yes, if the government wants things done fast, it can generally make it happen! Now that the Fixed Term Parliaments Act has been repealed, the PM again has the power to call elections more or less unilaterally, so they won't need to do something similar in future.