Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 8
8
While not all members of the Committee would oppose such a move, it is also...
Recommendation
While not all members of the Committee would oppose such a move, it is also cognisant that reviving the prerogative would mean taking a power that is set out in statute and regulated by Parliament and handing it back to the Crown. Whether or not adequate consideration was given to the full implications of removing the prerogative in 2011, Parliament now has responsibility for this area of the UK political system. The Government should not simply rely on reviving the prerogative, but look to establish a new, robust system for dissolution and calling of elections in the UK. (Paragraph 51) Early elections: avoiding paralysis and propping up of weak governments
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Government recognises that there is a debate about whether the dissolution prerogative can be revived without specific legislation to do so. To provide for legal, constitutional and political certainty around the process for dissolving Parliament and to remove any doubt about the underlying intention, the draft Bill makes express provision that the prerogative powers relating to the dissolution of Parliament (and the calling of a new Parliament) that existed before the FTPA are exercisable again “as if the FTPA had never been enacted.” The Government agrees that the exercise of these prerogative powers is a matter that should not be abrogated to the Courts. For this reason, the Government’s draft Bill contains an ouster clause to make clear that the exercise or purported exercise of the revived prerogative powers, any decisions or purported decisions relating to the revived powers (including any preliminary steps and advice leading to the exercise of the powers), and the limits or extent of the revived powers, are non-justiciable. This facilitates a return to the long-standing norm that operated before 2011. Early elections: avoiding paralysis and propping up of weak governments