# The Fixed Term Parliament Act should be repealed **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 2, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fixed-term-parliament-act-should-be-repealed/783607 "2017-04-02T21:04:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fixed-term-parliament-act-should-be-repealed/783607/21 "2017-04-10T18:09:38Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > That may be due to the power of patronage. Well, yes, it’s all part and parcel of a total system: everything’s based around the idea of a party hanging together around the manifesto and the leadership. Some, maybe most, MPs will have an eye on patronage to get up the career ladder, and obviously loyalty (or obsequiousness, depending on your point of view) will be part of that, but some will want to do their own thing - but even then, the system depends on the governing party supporting the leadership’s legislative and administrative agenda (and the leadership needing to take care to make sure they’re not taking the lobby-fodder for granted). Too many mavericks and the leadership is held to be weak and at risk. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fixed-term-parliament-act-should-be-repealed/783607/22 "2017-04-10T18:18:52Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Really? Remember Carswell, Reckless, the Gang of Four, Winston Churchill (twice), etc etc. Remember also backbench revolts. Doesn’t change the point at all. The fact that those specific incidents are so notable is, in itself, something of a marker of how the parliamentary system is one that runs largely along party lines. In general, the leadership tends to have more control over recalcitrant members in the parliamentary system than it does in, for example, the United States Congress. If i were to try and list the notable occasions where Democratic or Republican members of Congress had defied their leadership on certain issues, i would go over the character limit for a message board post. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fixed-term-parliament-act-should-be-repealed/783607/23 "2017-04-10T21:35:49Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Doesn’t change the point at all. > > The fact that those specific incidents are so notable is, in itself, something of a marker of how the parliamentary system is one that runs largely along party lines. In general, the leadership tends to have more control over recalcitrant members in the parliamentary system than it does in, for example, the United States Congress. If i were to try and list the notable occasions where Democratic or Republican members of Congress had defied their leadership on certain issues, i would go over the character limit for a message board post. Ah, I thought you were talking about changing parties. If you’re talking about defying the whip, then I still disagree. The list of MPs that have defied party whips over the years - even just the past decade - is still significant. Indeed, it’s so common that merely the number of MPs that defied the Whips is usually reported. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fixed-term-parliament-act-should-be-repealed/783607/24 "2017-04-11T00:45:55Z")
I personally never liked this either - they did the same in Canada a number of years ago. Contrary to the idea that it obviously curtails government power, in Canada at least, it was easily maneuvered around by the minority government that enacted it by forcing a non-confidence vote. It also allows a government completely embroiled in scandal to declare “sorry people, we would totally run an election now to prove you still trust us but our hands are tied!” As far as government power goes, it’s mostly a wash. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fixed-term-parliament-act-should-be-repealed/783607/25 "2017-04-11T09:08:03Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > I personally never liked this either - they did the same in Canada a number of years ago. Contrary to the idea that it obviously curtails government power, in Canada at least, it was easily maneuvered around by the minority government that enacted it by forcing a non-confidence vote. Canadian governments don’t even have to force non-confidence votes if they want. The Canadian act explicitly preserved the dissolution power as it existed before. In other words, it did nothing except reduce the maximum term of a Parliament to a floating period of around four years rather than exactly five years. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fixed-term-parliament-act-should-be-repealed/783607/26 "2017-04-11T10:31:17Z")
The reason for that approach is that the royal prerogative to dissolve is likely part of the “office of the Queen”'and therefore can only be amended by a unanimous constitutional amendment. Her Majesty has greater job security in Canada than in the United Kingdom, it appears. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fixed-term-parliament-act-should-be-repealed/783607/27 "2017-04-11T20:01:24Z")
Actually, thinking about it, the Act ought not to be repealed. Repealing it wouldn’t simply return the law to the _status quo ante_. It would simply leave a blank hole in the law instead. Simply repealing the FTPA would in fact mean there is no limit on the life of a Parliament, and no mechanism to dissolve it. It would have to be _replaced_. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fixed-term-parliament-act-should-be-repealed/783607/28 "2017-04-17T18:19:05Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The reason for that approach is that the royal prerogative to dissolve is likely part of the “office of the Queen”'and therefore can only be amended by a unanimous constitutional amendment. > > Her Majesty has greater job security in Canada than in the United Kingdom, it appears. 😃 The Canadian Act essentially said that elections would be held every four years (the de facto standard anyway), then went on to acknowledge that this provision was unconstitutional and without any legal effect. The PM who introduced the Act then proceeded to ignore it for the next election. ---
**Author:** ![phaemon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/977dab/32.png) [@phaemon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phaemon)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fixed-term-parliament-act-should-be-repealed/783607/29 "2017-04-18T14:27:41Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > The flexibility to call new elections doesn’t exist any longer and it should. I think I’m going to have to disagree with the basic premise here… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fixed-term-parliament-act-should-be-repealed/783607/30 "2017-04-18T18:52:47Z")
It’s almost as if each Parliament is sovereign … ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fixed-term-parliament-act-should-be-repealed/783607/31 "2017-04-18T20:35:53Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > It’s almost as if each Parliament is sovereign … You might think so, Professor Dicey - I couldn’t possibly comment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fixed-term-parliament-act-should-be-repealed/783607.md?page=1)