General elections should take place every five years unless a resolution of the House of Commons decides otherwise to reduce this period.

In 1715 as part of the readjustment of responsibility between the monarch and the politicians the House of Commons negotiated that the maximum length of a Parliament would be extended to seven years.  Although that was reduced to five years in 1911 as part of the Parliament Act, the power of the Prime Minister, acting by use of the Royal Prerogative, to dissolve Parliament within this maximum period has never been addressed by statute.  

This leads to the strange situation that it is the House of Commons who recommends the Prime Minister to the monarch but it is that same Prime Minister who has the power to dissolve the body that appointed him or her.

Noting this, the 1992 Labour Manifesto pledged 'Although an earlier election will sometimes be necessary, we will introduce in general a fixed Parliamentary term.'  However it did not make any such pledge in its 1997, 2001 or 2005 Manifestos when it could sense power or was in power.

Parliament is limited to five years but elections are typically held every four to five years.  The power of the Prime Minister, based on the Royal Prerogative, to decide when within the five years the election should be held is a very powerful one, especially now that opinion polls tend to be broadly correct.  It is exercised when the incumbent sees the maximum advantage for their own political party rather than for the country as a whole.

The agreed maximum length of a UK Parliament of five years is a good planning period during which a Government should be able to implement a substantial proportion of its policies.  This is slightly more than the four year US Presidential cycle but less than the seven year French Presidential term.

As well as giving a political advantage to the incumbent Prime Minister, the uncertainty about when a general election may occur means that a lot of Parliamentary activity can be wasted as bills which have not completed all of their stages have to start again from the beginning in the new Parliament.  In addition enquiries by committees stop and their reports are not published.

The uncertainty about the length of a Parliament also affects the management of all of the departments of state.   Senior civil servants do not know how much effort to put into a particular policy if at an uncertain date a new Government may be elected with a different policy.  This leads to inefficiency.

The Independent commented in July 2008:  'The prospect of an election means a desperate expediency will prevail – imprudence for a purpose. The Chancellor plays a reluctant Santa Claus in order to keep his fearful MPs in marginal seats happy, or less frightened. He buys a very short-term happiness.'

For these reasons other Westminster style Parliaments such as those in Australia, Canada, India and New Zealand all have fixed terms as does the United States.  In Germany the Bundestag may only be dissolved prematurely in exceptional circumstances.  Similarly the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly in Wales, the Northern Island Assembly and all other elected bodies in the UK have fixed terms of office.

The only reason why elections have been called at a time not of the choosing of the Prime Minister has been when the governing party has lost a vote of confidence in the House of Commons.  This is however very unusual and last happened in 1979.

This should clearly remain as a sanction on the Government but other than this there is no reason for the benefit of the country, rather than for his or her political party, why the Prime Minister unilaterally should be able to dissolve Parliament using the Royal Prerogative to call an election at the best time for their party.

Currently a motion of 'No Confidence' passed by the House of Commons will lead to a general election. However the House of Commons conversely has no way of stopping a Prime Minister from calling an election.  This position should be reversed with there being a presumption that a Parliament will last for five years unless there is a House of Commons motion reducing this.

According to a ComRes survey of 154 MPs conducted in October 2007, 44% of MPs support fixed-term parliaments and 49% oppose them (support from 88% of Liberal Democrat MPs, 41% of Labour MPs and 25% of Conservative MPs).

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