when does the british prime minister call for an election
Snap election The conditions for when a snap election can be called have been significantly restricted by the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 to occasions when the government loses a confidence motion or when a two-thirds supermajority of MPs vote in favour. Prior to this, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom had the de facto power to call an election at will by requesting a dissolution from the monarch â€“ the limited circumstances where this would not be granted were set out in the Lascelles Principles. There was no fixed period for holding elections, although between 1997 and 2015 there was a convention that the government should hold elections on the same date as local elections on the first Thursday of May. Since World War II, only the 2015 general election was held on the latest possible date (7 May 2015), due to being the first general election at the end of a fixed-term Parliament.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The office is not established by any statute or constitutional document but exists only by long-established convention, which stipulates that the monarch must appoint as Prime Minister the person most likely to command the confidence of the House of Commons;[4] this individual is typically the leader of the political party or coalition of parties that holds the largest number of seats in that chamber. The position of Prime Minister was not created; it evolved slowly and erratically over three hundred years due to numerous acts of Parliament, political developments, and accidents of history. The office is therefore best understood from a historical perspective. The origins of the position are found in constitutional changes that occurred during the Revolutionary Settlement (1688â€“1720) and the resulting shift of political power from the Sovereign to Parliament.[5] Although the Sovereign was not stripped of the ancient prerogative powers and legally remained the head of government, politically it gradually became necessary for him or her to govern through a Prime Minister who could command a majority in Parliament.