Conservatives move closer still to Labour

DanishDynamite said:
Sorry, I thought brodski knew what he was talking about. 2010, then.

I must say I'm glad to know that there is a minimum numbers of years before a general election must be called. I was worried there for a moment. :)
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I do know what I talking about, and I appear to have made myself clear to all participants in this thread other than you, I apologize and will have to try harder in future.

By the way, did you intend to use the word "minimum" here instead of "maximum"?

You appear to have made the same error in your other post which I have responded to.
minimum refers to the smallest amount possible, permitable, available etc. maximum means the largest.
 
DanishDynamite said:
I have to say I find that a bit above his station to do so. What do you think?
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Feel free to resign your membership in disgust.

Now, corrected for accuracy:

The better data is that it is 100% sure that a general election must be called no later than 2010. Any speculation on a previous date, is just that.
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brodski said:
I do know what I talking about, and I appear to have made myself clear to all participants in this thread other than you, I apologize and will have to try harder in future.

By the way, did you intend to use the word "minimum" here instead of "maximum"?

You appear to have made the same error in your other post which I have responded to.
minimum refers to the smallest amount possible, permitable, available etc. maximum means the largest.
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OK. I agree.
 
DanishDynamite said:
The better data is that it is 100% sure that a general election must be called in 2010. Any speculation on a previous date, is just that.
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Except it is not 100% certain, as Darat pointed out, parliament can vote to extend its term (as the 1935 parliament did). It is unlikely taht they will do this, but to claim that they won't is nothing but speculation.
It is unlikely that Brown will wait until 2010 until he goes to the country, but to claim that he will (or won't) is just speculation.
 
brodski said:
Except it is not 100% certain, as Darat pointed out, parliament can vote to extend its term (as the 1935 parliament did). It is unlikely taht they will do this, but to claim that they won't is nothing but speculation.
It is unlikely that Brown will wait until 2010 until he goes to the country, but to claim that he will (or won't) is just speculation.
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The English are weird.

Are you now saying that the current Government does not need to call general elections in 2010?

When, if ever, does the wonderfully democratic system of government in the UK need to call elections, if ever?

Is there any deadline at all?
 
DanishDynamite said:
OK. I'm now better informed. 20010 is the minimum.
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No, by 20010 I doubt that that the UK, or any of its constitute nations will still exist- and I'm pretty certain that both Brown and Cameron will be dead, but that's just idle speculation. :p
if you meant 2010, you are still wrong because 2010 is the maximum baring exceptional events.

Yes, but saying that doesn't impart much information unless I know that the previous UK election happened in 2005.
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I had assumed a basic knowledge of UK political events from the participants in this thread. Sorry.

BTW, brodski, did you notice how Darat suddenly removed several posts from this thread, without any notice at all?

I have to say I find that a bit above his station to do so. What do you think?
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I have re-read through this thread and I can't see any missing posts (or rather there are no posts which I remember being here which are no longer here), can you tell me which posts you think have been moved?

If posts have been moved I do think that at the very least a note should be in the thread to that effect, however I do not think that posts have been taken out of this thread.
 
DanishDynamite said:
The English are weird.

Are you now saying that the current Government does not need to call general elections in 2010?

When, if ever, does the wonderfully democratic system of government in the UK need to call elections, if ever?

Is there any deadline at all?
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terms are limited to five years, unless there are exceptional circumstances (Like WWII breaking out), in which case parliament can vote to extend the terms, unlike other legislation the House of lords can block this legislation outright. In 1939 the parliament voted to suspend general elections until WWII finished.

This has been explained before in this very thread.

By what ,means do the danish determine term limits?
 
DanishDynamite said:
The English are weird.

Are you now saying that the current Government does not need to call general elections in 2010?

When, if ever, does the wonderfully democratic system of government in the UK need to call elections, if ever?

Is there any deadline at all?
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I had assumed a basic knowledge of geography was common to people on this forum, but it appears that I am wrong.

There are no English national elections. At all.

There are UK national elections which must be held before 2010. There are Scottish and Welsh elections which will be held in 2012. But there are no English national elections currently envisaged, what with England not actually having a parliament of its own yet.

Sheesh.
 
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Architect said:
There are Scottish and Welsh elections which will be held in 2012.
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2011 - we have four year fixed terms for the Scottish Parliament (and I assume but have not checked the Welsh Assembly). Unlike the Westminster elections, these dates are fixed and are not based on the period since the previous election.

I.e. if the current executive failed and the parliament dissolved itself in 2009 requiring an extraordinary general election, there would still be an ordinary general election in 2011 (the only exception is that if an ordinary general election would take place within six months of the previous extraordinary general election it does not take place).

In Westminster if the Labour government decided to hold an election in 2009 and a general election was called, whoever won it would not be required to submit themselves to another vote until 2014 - five years later.

Of course with the recent history of large majorities at Westminster it has become expected that a government will go the country every four years which means that the Westminster and devolved assembly elections do not coincide. Life could get very interesting in the future if the next Westminster election results in a hung parliament / coalition, particularly when you consider that both the Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly may end up being run by minority governments. It is possible that we could end up with an awful lot of elections taking place in a short period of time.
 
DanishDynamite said:
The English are weird.

Are you now saying that the current Government does not need to call general elections in 2010?

When, if ever, does the wonderfully democratic system of government in the UK need to call elections, if ever?

Is there any deadline at all?
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There is a deadline. The deadline is 2010. This does not mean that an election will be held in 2010. Recent history indicates that this is in fact unlikely.

The UK parliament does not have fixed terms. It has a maximum period between elections (with certain very rare overrides). It is therefore simply incorrect to state that it is certain there will be an election in 2010. For example the Labour party won power in 1997, called an election in 2001 (a year earlier than the maximum period), won that election and called a further election in 2005 (again a year earlier than the maximum period).

See previous post for contrast with fixed term periods for devolved assemblies.
 
Jaggy Bunnet said:
2011 - we have four year fixed terms for the Scottish Parliament (and I assume but have not checked the Welsh Assembly). Unlike the Westminster elections, these dates are fixed and are not based on the period since the previous election.
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I was speaking with someone from the Welsh Assembly on Monday, and he implied that if a Government could not be formed in wales then there could be a second round of Elections this year. Does anyone know if that is correct? And does the same apply to Hollyrood?
 
brodski said:
I was speaking with someone from the Welsh Assembly on Monday, and he implied that if a Government could not be formed in wales then there could be a second round of Elections this year. Does anyone know if that is correct? And does the same apply to Hollyrood?
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At Holyrood (only one L, even though it is pronounced like two), there may only be an extraordinary general election if:

2/3 of the total number of MSP's vote in favour of a resolution that parliament be dissolved; OR

The period for appointment of a First Minister ends without one being nominated. This would require the existing First Minister to resign (which he is required to do if he loses a confidence vote in Parliament) and for the Parliament not to nominate a replacement within 28 days.

Neither appears likely in the short term.

Not sure about Wales, but would have though minority government is more likely than new elections.
 
Jaggy Bunnet said:
...snip...

This would require the existing First Minister to resign (which he is required to do if he loses a confidence vote in Parliament) and for the Parliament not to nominate a replacement within 28 days.

...snip...
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I've been reading up a bit on this since the last election but not intensively so I may have just missed it but is he or ( she ;) ) legally required to resign or is it just expected he or she would?
 
Darat said:
I've been reading up a bit on this since the last election but not intensively so I may have just missed it but is he or ( she ;) ) legally required to resign or is it just expected he or she would?
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Legally required.

Scotland Act 1998 section 45(2):

"(2) The First Minister may at any time tender his resignation to Her Majesty and shall do so if the Parliament resolves that the Scottish Executive no longer enjoys the confidence of the Parliament."

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts1998/80046--d.htm#46
 
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