Tuesday 5 May 2020

On the Calling Together and the Dispersing of a Parliament — I. Dissolution and Summoning


In this gargantuan blog post, and four more to follow in the coming days once I've proofread them, we will consider the processes around the creation, ending, and suspension, and revival of Parliaments. One of my singular favourite topics. We will also consider the process of Royal Assent [1] since, historically, it was bound up in the same thing.

But first a terminological point. Why a Parliament? Well, the current Parliament is the Fifty-Eighth Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. At each general election, the mechanics of which we will discuss below, the Parliament then in being quite metaphorically turns into a puff of smoke, and a new one is formed. And this blog is concerned with how one Parliament goes out of existence, and another comes in to being.

We have to do this essentially twice, because in 2011 a fundamental change happened to the legislation underpinning all this, but the modern ways only truly make sense in their historical context.

Dissolution and Summoning (the older, better, way)

The process of putting an end to one Parliament is that of dissolution. In a strict sense, it need not be connected to the process of forming a new one (summoning), though current legislation inextricably intertwines the two.

Historically, the dissolution was a prerogative of the Crown, and under a concept called the Lascelles' Principles [2] was one of the few occasions a Sovereign might depart from the advice of Her Prime Minister. Now it is an automatic process governed by the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 [3]. We will return to this later. First we will look at how it used to be done.

The 2010 election was the last precipitated by a dissolution proclamation, which has been for easily five-hundred years always combined with the proclamation summoning the new Parliament to meet.

Such a proclamation would usually issue after an Order-in-Council [4] was made authorizing the Lord Chancellor to affix the Great Seal to it. This was certainly done in 2005, viz.
Proclamation for dissolving the Parliament and for calling another to meet on Wednesday the eleventh day of May 2005, and of an Order in Council directing the Lord Chancellor to cause the Great Seal to be affixed to the Proclamation. 
Order in Council directing the Lord Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to issue Writs for the calling of a new Parliament to meet on the eleventh day of May 2005.  
But the equivalent Order is missing from the Privy Council website for 2010...

The Dissolution Proclamation

The Proclamation itself is then published in a Supplement to the London [4], Edinburgh [5], and Belfast [6] Gazettes and read by the Common Crier of the City of London outside the Royal Exchange [7] and by the Lord Lyon King of Arms at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh [8] thusly

BY THE QUEEN 
A PROCLAMATION 
FOR DISSOLVING THE PRESENT PARLIAMENT AND DECLARING THE CALLING OF ANOTHER 
ELIZABETH R. 
Whereas We have thought fit, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council, to dissolve this present Parliament, which stands prorogued to Tuesday, the twentieth day of April: We do, for that End, publish this Our Royal Proclamation, and do hereby dissolve the said Parliament accordingly: And the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Members of the House of Commons, are discharged from further Attendance thereat: And We being desirous and resolved, as soon as may be, to meet Our People, and to have their Advice in Parliament, do hereby make known to all Our loving Subjects Our Royal Will and Pleasure to call a new Parliament: and do hereby further declare, that, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council, We have given Order that Our Chancellor of Great Britain and Our Secretary of State for Northern Ireland do respectively, upon Notice thereof, forthwith issue out Writs, in due Form and according to Law, for calling a new Parliament: And We do hereby also, by this Our Royal Proclamation under Our Great Seal of Our
Realm, require Writs forthwith to be issued accordingly by Our said Chancellor and Secretary of State respectively, for causing the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons who are to serve in the said Parliament to be duly returned to, and give their Attendance in, Our said Parliament on Tuesday, the eighteenth day of May next, which Writs are to be returnable in due course of Law. 
Given at Our Court at Windsor Castle, this twelfth day of April in the Year of our Lord two thousand and ten and in the fifty-ninth year of Our Reign. 
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
Breaking this wall of text down a bit. 
by and with the advice of Our Privy Council
Dissolutions of Parliament were an exercise of the Royal Prerogative, given form by the proclamation being ordered to be sealed by Order-in-Council. Contrast this with the enacting formula for Acts, which has "by and with the advice and consent of the Lords [...]" (my emphasis), and one sees the differing constitutional positions.
which stands prorogued to Tuesday 
In many, but not all, cases, Parliaments were prorogued pending the dissolution. This was, however, entirely unnecessary.
the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Members of the House of Commons, are discharged from further Attendance thereat
This reflects the theory that attendance at a Parliament was a duty for Peers and MPs, and therefore they had to be discharged by Her Majesty
forthwith issue out Writs
This, combined with the second Order-in-Council, is what historically actually triggered the process of an election occurring. Specifically, rule 1 of the Parliamentary Election Rules [10] as they had effect before the 2011 Act provided that
Publication of notice of election — In the case of a general election or by-election, not later than 4 in the afternoon on the second day after that on which the writ is received. [11]
Consequently, no writ equals no election. Writs would also be issued under this part of the proclamation to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal. They required no election, but still had to be individually summoned to the new Parliament, having been discharged from the earlier one.
give their Attendance in, Our said Parliament on Tuesday, the eighteenth day of May next
This actually summons the new Parliament to meet. The astute will notice that the Proclamation does not actually specify the date of the election (nor the poll, which wise readers will know is not the same thing). The date of election and date of poll were defined by the Parliamentary Election Rules as
the sixth day after the date of the proclamation summoning the new Parliament
between the hours of 7 in the morning and 10 at night on the eleventh [12] day after the last day for delivery of nomination papers
respectively. (It is important to note this timings have all changed in the new regime). Finally,
which Writs are to be returnable in due course of Law
hints at the statutory nature of this process.

The Writs of Election

(The subtly different writs of summons for Peers and Lords Spiritual are discussed in the next section, but it is worth noting that this Order-in-Council provides authority for both species of writ.)

The text of the second Order-in-Council, directing writs be issued to cause the election to be held, is also given in the Gazettes [13]

At the Court at
Windsor Castle the 12th day of April 2010 
Present, 
The Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty in Council 
Her Majesty, having been this day pleased by Her Royal Proclamation to dissolve the present Parliament and to declare the calling of another, is hereby further pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order that the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland do respectively, upon notice of this Her Majesty’s Order, forthwith cause Writs to be issued in due form and according to Law for the calling of a new Parliament, to meet at the City of Westminster on Tuesday, the 18th day of May 2010; which Writs are to be returnable in due course of Law.
This Order gives effect to the obligation under the Parliamentary Election Rules that the writs be issued
as soon as practicable after the issue of the proclamation summoning the new Parliament.
In the pre-2011 Act regime, the writ of election would be in the following form, one of these being sent to each of the 650 Returning Officers [14] in the United Kingdom, viz. [15]
Elizabeth the Second by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Our other Realms and Territories Queen Head of the Commonwealth Defender of the Faith to the Returning Officer for the [Monmouth] Constituency Greeting 
Whereas by the advice of Our Council We have ordered a Parliament to be holden at Westminster on the [18th] day of [May] next We Command you that due notice being first given you do cause election to be made according to law of a Member to serve in Parliament for the said [Monmouth] Constituency And that you do cause the name of such Member when so elected, whether he be present or absent, to be certified to Us in Our Chancery without delay 
Witness Ourself at Westminster the [12th] day of [April] in the [fifty-ninth] year of Our Reign, and in the year of Our Lord [2010].
On the reverse of the writ there would then be printed (these are respectively known as the label, the endorsement, and the certificate)
To the Returning Officer for the [Monmouth] Constituency.
A writ of a new election of a Member for the said Constituency.

Received the within Writ on the        day of        , 20        . 
(Signed)
Returning Officer (or as the case may be.)

I hereby certify, that the Member elected for the[Monmouth] Constituency in pursuance of the within written Writ is        of        in the County of 
(Signed)
Returning Officer (or as the case may be.) 
Note: in relation to any constituency in Wales, “county” in this form refers to a preserved county (as defined by section 64 of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994). [16]
A slightly baroque process is defined for the process of getting the writ from the Crown Office to each Returning Officer [17]. Upon receipt, the Returning Officer would then endorse the date in the first part. Then, after the declaration of the result, he would enter the name of the newly elected MP, and they would return (now the titles make sense) that writ to the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery.

Writs of Summons

Peers, on the other hand (but wait for it [18]!), and Lords Spiritual are not elected. Instead they summoned to the new Parliament by a device call a Writ of Summons. In theory [19], before the House of Lords Act 1999 [20], sending a Writ of Summons to someone who was not actually a Lord Temporal would have the effect of making them in to a Baron (which is also related to the reason that effectively all Peers who have higher titles have a barony underneath it too).

The text, which has been slightly changed in more recent years was historically
Elizabeth the Second by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Our other Realms and Territories Queen Head of the Commonwealth Defender of the Faith to Our [right trusty and well beloved] [21] [Counsellor] [22] [Benjamin Lewis of Cwmbran in Our County of Gwent] Chevalier [23] Greeting 
WHEREAS by the advice and assent of Our Council for certain arduous and urgent affairs concerning Us the state and defence of Our United Kingdom and Church We have ordered a certain Parliament to be holden at Our City of Westminster on the [twelfth] day of [May] next ensuing and there to treat and have conference with the Prelates Great Men [24] and Peers of Our Realm We strictly enjoining 
COMMAND you upon the faith and allegiance by which you are bound to Us that the weightiness of the said affairs and imminent peris considered (waiving all excuses) you e at the said day and place personally present with Us and with the said Prelates Great Men [24] and Peers to treat and give your counsel upon the affairs aforesaid And this as you regard Us and Our honour and the safety and defence of the said Kingdom and Church and dispatch of the said affairs in nowise do you omit 
WITNESS Ourself at Westminster the [twelth] day of [April] in the [fifty-ninth] year of Our Reign. 
(this is customarily printed as one continuous sentence, I have broken it up so it is readable).

Curiously, there is a statutory authority for the text of a Lord Spiritual's Writ of Summons, at schedule 1 to the Crown Office (Forms and Proclamations Rules) Order 1988 [25] but it appears to be in all senses identical to the Temporal one.

In the Order-in-Council, the Secretary of State was directed to issue these writs (and the writs of election) in addition to the Lord Chancellor. This oddity is a result of the residual responsibilities of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland devolving first on the Governor of Northern Ireland, and then on the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. In practice, it makes little difference.

But before 1999, this was not the only way one could serve in the House of Peers. And it's also not our final form of writ — that would be too easy!

Writs in Acceleration

When it was desired for the heir of an elderly peer (who was at or above the rank of Earl) to sit in the Lords before he succeeded to his father's peerage, the device called a Writ in Acceleration was resorted to. This took the form of a Royal Warrant to the Lord Chancellor directing him to summon the heir to the Lords, viz. (this being the exact form of the very final warrant to do this even issued) [26]
Right Trusty and Well-beloved Counsellor We greet you well! 
OUR WILL AND PLEASURE is that you make or cause to be made forthwith One Writ of Summons under Our Great Seal to be directed to Our Right Trusty and Well-beloved Robert Michael James Gascoyne-Cecil (commonly called Viscount Cranborne) eldest son and heir apparent of Our Right Trusty and Entirely-beloved Cousin Robert Edward Peter, Marquess of Salisbury, to be personally present with Us and the Prelates, Nobles and Peers of Our Realm at Our Parliament at Westminster and to sit in his father's Barony of Cecil, of Essendon in the County of Rutland. 
AND for so doing this shall be your Warrant. 
GIVEN at Our Court at Windsor the twenty-ninth day of April 1992; In the Forty-first year of Our Reign. 
By Her Majesty's Command.  
To Our Right Trusty and Well-beloved Counsellor James Peter Hymers, Baron Mackay of Clashfern, Our Chancellor of Great Britain.
A Writ of Summons in what appears to be the usual form would then issue. The accelerated Peer would then sit (and have privilege of the Peerage, etc.) in the name of his father's barony, but would be known by his usual courtesy title. So, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, the first son of the Marquess of Salisbury, sat from 1992 until his father's death in the Barony of Essendon but was invariably known as Viscount Cranborne [27] [28]

Writs of Attendance

Law Officers and senior judges are customarily summoned to attend (but not to be part of) Parliament (unless they are themselves a Peer, of course) by the device of a Writ of Attendance. For example, this would summon a Lord Justice of Appeal [29]

Elizabeth the Second by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Our other Realms and Territories Queen Head of the Commonwealth Defender of the Faith To Our right trusty and well beloved Counsellor Sir [Benjamin Lewis] Knight one of Our Lords Justices of Appeal Greeting  
WHEREAS by the advice and assent of Our Council for certain arduous and urgent affairs concerning Us the state and defence of Our United Kingdom and the Church We have ordered a certain Parliament to be holden at Our City of Westminster on the [twelfth] day of [May] next ensuing and there to treat and have conference with the Prelates Great Men and Peers of Our Realm We strictly enjoining  
COMMAND you that (waiving all excuses) you be at the said day and place personally present with Us and with the rest of Our Council to treat and give your advice upon the affairs aforesaid And in this nowise do you omit WITNESS Ourself at Westminster the [twelth] day of [April] in the [fifty-ninth] year of Our Reign.

I have always thought this writ was most surprising for how similar it is in form and structure to a "full" Writ of Summons. Nowadays this attendance is limited to sitting on the judges woolsack at State Opening.

The good news is we now have all the ingredients to form a Parliament. The bad news is that except for Writs of Summons and Writs of Attendance, this all changed post 2011. So back to the beginning!

Dissolution and Summoning (the newer way)

The 2011 Act wrought the biggest changes to these processes since the formation of the United Kingdom in 1801. Dissolutions became an automatic process; the proclamation summoning a new Parliament was much shortened; the issue of writs was decoupled from the proclamations; and a whole new special type of proclamation was invented.

Section 3 of the 2011 Act provides (some irrelevant interpretative provisions excluded) that
(1) The Parliament then in existence dissolves at the beginning of the 17th working day before the polling day for the next parliamentary general election as determined under section 1 or appointed under section 2(7). 
(2) Parliament cannot otherwise be dissolved. 
(3) Once Parliament dissolves, the Lord Chancellor and, in relation to Northern Ireland, the Secretary of State have the authority to have the writs for the election sealed and issued (see rule 3 in Schedule 1 to the Representation of the People Act 1983). 
(4) Once Parliament dissolves, Her Majesty may issue the proclamation summoning the new Parliament which may—
(a) appoint the day for the first meeting of the new Parliament; 
(b) deal with any other matter which was normally dealt with before the passing of this Act by proclamations summoning new Parliaments (except a matter dealt with by subsection (1) or (3)).
So now, rather than a Order-in-Council and a proclamation causing a dissolution, it is entirely automatic. As the Votes and Proceedings notes [30]
Under sections 1(2) and 3(1) of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, the 55th Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was dissolved at the beginning of this day, Monday 30 March 2015.
Section 3(2) is the cause of much academic discourse about whether a repeal of the 2011 Act would revive the prerogative, and is a topic far too vexing for this article.

By section 3(3) then, what was once provided by Order-in-Council is now provided for automatically, and as we will see this guts out most of the summoning half of the proclamation too. And then section 3(4) preserves the power of Her Majesty to, on Her Prime Minister's advice obviously, set the date the new Parliament assembles and, by the curious provision in 3(4)(b), make provision for the House of Lords.

So, on 30th March 2015, Her Majesty held a Council, at which this Order was passed [31]
At the Court at Buckingham Palace 
The 30th Day of March 2015 
Present, 
The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council 
It is this day ordered by Her Majesty in Council that the Right Honourable the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain do cause the Great Seal of the Realm to be affixed to a Proclamation of this day's date calling a new Parliament.
Unlike the pre-2011 world, this Order was not Gazetted. But the resulting proclamation was, as before in all three gazettes [32] [33] [34] but interestingly not as a supplement, and was read as usual at the Royal Exchange and the Mercat Cross. In it's now truncated form, it reads thusly

BY THE QUEEN  
A PROCLAMATION FOR DECLARING THE CALLING OF A NEW PARLIAMENT 
ELIZABETH R. 
Whereas We, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council, being desirous and resolved, as soon as may be, to meet Our People, and to have their Advice in Parliament, do publish this, Our Royal Proclamation, and do hereby make known to all Our loving Subjects Our Royal Will and Pleasure to call a new Parliament to be holden at Westminster on Monday the eighteenth day of May next: And We do hereby also, by this Our Royal Proclamation under Our Great Seal of Our Realm, require Writs to be issued by Our Chancellor of Great Britain for causing the Lords Spiritual and Temporal who are to serve in the said Parliament to give their Attendance in Our said Parliament on the said date. 
Given at Our Court at Buckingham Palace, this thirtieth day of March in the Year of our Lord two thousand and fifteen and in the sixty-fourth year of Our Reign. 
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
It should be obvious that this is just a shortened version of the previous proclamation, now only setting out the date on which the new Parliament assembles, and requiring the Writs of Summons to be issues to the Lords. I can't help but feel it is poorer for it all, though.

The 2011 Act also modified the Parliamentary Election Rules to compute the timings based on the date of (automatic) dissolution, except for polling day which is to be determined in accordance with section 1 of the 2011 Act itself. This has the slightly unexpected effect that, for the first time, the process of dissolution and election are directly fused together — but not the summoning of the newly elected Parliament.

While the Writs of Summons remain unchanged, the Writs of Election were also amended by the 2011 Act and now the recital beginning 'whereas' reads
Whereas by section 3(1) of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 Parliament has dissolved We Command you that due notice being first given you do cause election to be made according to law of a Member to serve in Parliament for the said [Monmouth] Constituency

Summoning a New Parliament Before 1963

Between the Act of Unions in 1706 [35] and the Peerage Act 1963 [36] the start of each Parliament also necessitated the election of "Representative Peers" for Scotland. The basis for this was provided by Article XXII of the Treaty of Union,
That by virtue of this Treaty, Of the Peers of Scotland at the time of the Union 16 shall be the number to Sit and Vote in the House of Lords
This necessitated — and I did hint about this above — regular elections for these Representative Peers. Originally regulated by an Act of the Parliament of Scotland, and then by a series of Great Britain [37] and then United Kingdom Acts [38] this process essentially involved the Peers of Scotland meeting (or attending by proxy) at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, where the Lord Clerk Register [39] would conduct the election. Each Peer of Scotland had sixteen votes, one for each of the spaces (or fewer in a by-election).

This election was caused to happen by a wonderfully prolix proclamation, always issued immediately after the principal dissolution proclamation, here set out in full,

BY THE QUEEN 
A PROCLAMATION 
IN ORDER TO THE ELECTING AND SUMMONING THE SIXTEEN PEERS OF SCOTLAND 
ELIZABETH R. 
Whereas We have in Our Council thought fit to declare Our pleasure for summoning and holding a Parliament of Our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, on Tuesday the twentieth day of October next ensuing the date hereof: In order, therefore, to the electing and summoning the Sixteen Peers of Scotland who are to sit in the House of Peers in the said Parliament, We do, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council, issue forth this Our Royal Proclamation, strictly charging and commanding all the Peers of Scotland to assemble and meet at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh, on Tuesday the sixth day of October next ensuing at Twelve o'clock Noon to nominate and choose the Sixteen Peers to sit and vote in the House of Peers in the said ensuing Parliament by open Election and Plurality of Voices of the Peers that shall be then present, and of the Proxies of such as shall be absent (such Proxies being Peers and producing a Mandate in Writing duly signed before Witnesses, and both the Constituent and Proxy being qualified according to Law); and the Lord Clerk Register or the Principal Clerk of Session or, in the absence of both these Officers from any cause, such person as may be designated for the purpose by one of Our Principal Secretaries of State, is hereby required to attend such Meeting and to take the Votes of the said Peers and immediately after such Election made and duly examined to certify the names of the Sixteen Peers so elected and to sign and attest the same in the presence of the said Peers the Electors, and return such Certificate into Our High Court of Chancery of Great Britain: and We do, by this Our Royal Proclamation, strictly command and require the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and all other the Magistrates of the said City, to take especial care to preserve the Peace thereof during the time of the said Election, and to prevent all manner of Riots, Tumults, Disorders and Violence whatsoever: And We strictly charge and command that this our Royal Proclamation be duly published at the Market Cross at Edinburgh, and in all the County Towns of Scotland, Ten Days at least before the Time hereby appointed for the Meeting of the said Peers to proceed to such Election.  
Given at Our Court at Buckingham Palace, this eighteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine, and in the Eighth year of Our Reign. 
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
This was then published in all three gazettes [40] [41] [42] and read at least at the Mercat Cross — I have been unable to ascertain if the Common Crier of the City of London also read this one.

How this information then made its way to the House of Lords is something we will discuss later. Those elected would obviously be issued with a Writ of Summons in the usual way.

A minor complexity between the Acts of Union in 1801 [43] and the inability to hold any by-elections after 1921 (because the officers required had been abolished) was the process of electing Irish Representative Peers. However, because this was not triggered by the summoning of a new Parliament, we will skip over it.

We are not done yet though.

Summoning a New Parliament before 1966

The Church of England today primarily meets as a General Synod, consisting of the Upper and Lower Houses of the Convocations of Canterbury and York and a national House of Laity. This was born out of the Church Assembly [44] which was created in 1919. But the convocations long predate this. 

For unclear reasons, it had long — very long — [C1] Since Henrician times, for the reasons discussed by Jason Loch and published literally the day after this article, it has been the custom that whenever Parliament was dissolved, the two Convocations were also dissolved, and that likewise whenever a Parliament was summoned the two Convocations were also summoned. In years with two elections this must have been quite annoying.

This last occurred in 1964 [45], where in the London Gazette after the dissolution proclamation and the Order-in-Council concerning the writs of election, we see three further Orders-in-Council, viz.

At the Court at Buckingham Palace 
the 25th day of September 1964 
Present  
The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council 
It is this day ordered by Her Majesty, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, that the respective Convocations of the Provinces of Canterbury and York be forthwith dissolved: And the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain is to cause Writs to be prepared and issued in the usual manner for that purpose.

At the Court at Buckingham Palace 
the 25th day of September 1964 
Present  
The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council 
It is this day ordered by Her Majesty, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, that the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain do, upon notice of this Her Majesty's Order, forthwith cause Writs to be issued in form of Law, for electing new Members of the Convocation of the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury, which Writs are to be returnable on Monday, the 18th day of January, 1965.

At the Court at Buckingham Palace 
the 25th day of September 1964 
Present  
The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council 
It is this day ordered by Her Majesty, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, that the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain do, upon notice of this Her Majesty's Order, forthwith cause Writs to be issued in form of Law, for electing new Members of the Convocation of the Clergy of the Province of York [C3], which Writs are to be returnable on Tuesday, the 19th day of January, 1965.
These clearly follow a similar pattern to how the Parliamentary Orders-in-Council are worded. Though I do note the curiosity that is York having an extra day!

Entirely irrelevant to this article [46], but included here because they're quite unusual, are the 1970 forms of the writs dissolving and summoning the Convocations. I have failed entirely to find what the writs looked like before the link with Parliament was severed, however.

Firstly, the Writ dissolving the Convocation of Canterbury (York would be the same but with minor edits), [47]
ELIZABETH THE SECOND by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Our other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith: 
To the Most Reverend Father in God Our right trusty and well beloved Counsellor [Name], by the same Grace [Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England ]and Metropolitan Greeting: 
Whereas the present Convocation of your Province of [Canterbury] was by Our Writ called together on the [Nth] day of [Month] and is still continued: 
And Whereas We have this day ordered, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council, that the said Convocation be dissolved on the [Nth] day of [Month]: 
herefore We Command you to dissolve the said Convocation on the said day and to signify such dissolution to all Bishops, Deans, Archdeacons and other Clergy whom it does concern. 
WITNESS Ourself at Westminster the [Nth] day of [Month] in the [Nth] year of Our Reign.
And then then the writ summoning a new one,
ELIZABETH THE SECOND by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Our other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith: 
To the Most Reverend Father in God Our right trusty and well beloved Counsellor [Name], by the same Grace [Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England ]and Metropolitan Greeting: 
Whereas We have ordered, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council, that writs be issued for dissolving the Convocations of the Provinces of Canterbury and York and for calling together new Convocations of the said Provinces and for electing new members of the Lower Houses of those Convocations: 
Therefore We Command you on such dissolution to call together a new Convocation of your Province comprising the Bishops of all the dioceses of your Province, and such of the Deans, Archdeacons, and Clergy of your Province as may be elected or otherwise become members of the Lower House of that Convocation in accordinace with the Canon for the Represenation of the Clergy in the Lower House of the Convocation of [Canterbury], to appear before you in [City] or elsewhere as it shall seem most expedient on the [Nth] day or [Month]: 
And this as you love Us, the state of Our Kingdom and the honour and good of the Church of England, by no means omit. [48]
WITNESS Ourself at Westminster the [Nth] day of [Month] in the [Nth] year of Our Reign.
As wonderfully British as this farcical situation was, the Church was beginning to tire of it, and it was interfering with its desire for a more systematic synodical governance arrangement. Consequently, Parliament passed the Church of England Convocations Act 1966 [49], the sole operative section of which [50] provides at sub-section (1) [51]
Notwithstanding any custom or rule of law to the contrary, the Convocations of Canterbury and York may be called together and dissolved at such times as Her Majesty may determine, without regard to the time at which Parliament is summoned or dissolved.
And there the link with between the secular and clerical assemblies ended.

Early Parliamentary General Elections After 2011

Only three elections have been held pursuant to the 2011 Act, each triggered in a different way. The 2015 election was by simple effluxion of time, and is discussed above. In 2017 the procedure found at section 2(1) of the Act was used, which provides (together with sub-section (2))
(1) An early parliamentary general election is to take place if—
(a) the House of Commons passes a motion in the form set out in subsection (2), and 
(b) if the motion is passed on a division, the number of members who vote in favour of the motion is a number equal to or greater than two thirds of the number of seats in the House (including vacant seats).
(2)The form of motion for the purposes of subsection (1)(a) is—
“That there shall be an early parliamentary general election.”
The vote in question occurred on Wednesday 19th April 2017, and that fateful (for Mrs. May, anyway) division is recorded in the Votes & Proceedings (amusingly a week before the bicentenary of the Vote) as [52]
4. Early Parliamentary General Election
Motion made and Question proposed, That there shall be an early parliamentary general election. — (The Prime Minister.) 
The Speaker announced a time limit on backbench speeches (Standing Order No. 47(1)). 
Question again proposed. 
Question put. 
The House divided. 
Division No. 196. 
Ayes: 522 (Tellers: Heather Wheeler, Jackie Doyle-Price).
Noes: 13 (Tellers: Ms Margaret Ritchie, Mark Durkan). 
Question accordingly agreed to.
Parliament was then prorogued on Thursday 27th April (and we will discuss prorogations later) before, on Wednesday 3rd May, the Votes & Proceedings now record [53]
Under sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, as amended by the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013, and pursuant to the Resolution of 19 April 2017, the 56th Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was dissolved at the beginning of this day, Wednesday 3 May 2017.
The amendment by the 2013 Act is of no major consequence here save to observe it made yet more changes to the election timetable. What is curious about this entry is that it does not record why Parliament dissolved automatically on that day.

To answer that question we must turn to section 3(7) of the 2011 Act, which provides
If a parliamentary general election is to take place as provided for by subsection (1) or (3), the polling day for the election is to be the day appointed by Her Majesty by proclamation on the recommendation of the Prime Minister (and, accordingly, the appointed day replaces the day which would otherwise have been the polling day for the next election determined under section 1).
Or, in other words, when an early election occurs pursuant to the 2011 Act, a new type of proclamation is necessary. This is, it transpires, not a reversion to the old way of doing things (alas and alack). Instead, at the Privy Council held on 25th April [54]

At the Court at Windsor Castle 
THE 25th DAY OF APRIL 2017 
PRESENT, 
THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY IN COUNCIL 
It is this day ordered by Her Majesty in Council that the Right Honourable the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain do cause the Great Seal of the Realm to be affixed to a Proclamation of this day's date appointing Thursday 8th June 2017 as the polling day for the general election of the next Parliament.

This proclamation was then gazetted thricely as usual [55] [56] [57], and its generally anodyne wording is
BY THE QUEEN  
A PROCLAMATION  
APPOINTING THURSDAY THE 8TH DAY OF JUNE 2017 AS THE POLLING DAY FOR THE GENERAL ELECTION OF THE NEXT PARLIAMENT  
ELIZABETH R. 
Whereas, We consider it desirable that Thursday the 8th day of June 2017 should be the polling day for the next parliamentary general election: 
Now, therefore, We in pursuance of section 2(7) of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, on the advice of Our Prime Minister, do hereby appoint Thursday the 8th day of June 2017 as the polling day for the next parliamentary general election. 
Given at Our Court at Windsor Castle this twenty-fifth day of April in the year of Our Lord two thousand and seventeen in the sixty-sixth year of Our Reign. 
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
Given that it is generally accepted that the 2011 Act may not be long for this world, this might turn out to be a bit of a hapax legomenon of the proclamation world! This proclamation was not publicly read, to the best of my knowledge.

Be that as it may, appointing 8th June as the polling day had the effect of dissolving the Parliament on the 3rd May by application of the other rules in the 2011 Act. Another interesting quirk of this proclamation, born of the requirement in the Act itself, is the explicit mention of the Prime Minister's advice.

A subsequent proclamation was issued on May 3rd appointing June 13th as the day for the meeting of the new Parliament, but as this was in the same form as the 2010 Proclamation we will move on.

There have been two early general elections under the 2011 Act, but only one day fixing proclamation. This is because of a well-known lacuna in the Act itself. While a two-thirds majority is necessary to cause an early general election (absent losing a vote of no-confidence, and then the two-week "cooling off" period expiring) under the Act, a bare majority can simply pass another Act of Parliament to engineer one.

And as we know, after  three [58] failed [59] attempts [60], the present government used exactly this method to get around the super-majority requirement.

Although all similar, taking the motion for the 3rd September as an example, this provides a rare case of a "successful" Commons motion actually being inoperative, which the Votes & Proceedings recorded as
10. Early parliamentary general election (Section 2, Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011)
Motion made and Question proposed, That there shall be an early parliamentary general election. — (The Prime Minister.) 
As it was ninety minutes after the commencement of proceedings on the motion, the Speaker put the Question necessary to bring proceedings to conclusion (Standing Order No. 16(1)). 
Question put. 
The House divided. 
Division No. 443
Ayes: 298 (Tellers: Stuart Andrew, Iain Stewart)
Noes: 56 (Tellers: Tom Brake, Jonathan Edwards) 
Question accordingly agreed to, the number of Members voting in favour of the motion being fewer than two thirds of the number of seats in the House (including vacant seats). 
This begat the (surprisingly long, given what it does) Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019 [61], the important part of which provides
(1) An early parliamentary general election is to take place on 12 December 2019 in consequence of the passing of this Act. 
(2) That day is to be treated as a polling day appointed under section 2(7) of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011.
That "to be treated as" in sub-section (2) is what obviated the need for a date-setting proclamation, by instead essentially having sub-section (1) stand in its place.

This time, however, the Votes & Proceedings helpfully mention the 2019 Act [62]
Under sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, as amended by the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013, and section 1 of the Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019, the 57th Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is dissolved at the beginning of Wednesday 6 November 2019.
And that concludes this part. In part II, we move on to looking at what happens when the new Parliament actually assembles.

Corrigenda

[C1] Let's link to Jason Loch's blog discussing the reason why the Convocations and Parliament were summoned and dissolved together.
[C2] The defectively labelled footnotes 36-39 have been corrected, as spotted by Robert Seddon.
[C3] Rich Greenhill correctly spotted that when lazily copy+pasting the Canterbury Order to make the York one (which differs only in the return date) I didn't change this to 'York'. 

Colophon

The Votes and Proceedings, the Lords Journals, and the Hansards are available under the Open Parliament License, and the London Gazette and the Privy Council orders are available under the essentially equivalent Open Government License.

As always, errors and corrections welcome! 


[1] And we will toss in Queen's and Prince of Wales' consents too since they are logically best treated of in this series, despite having nothing to do with the title.
[2] The Wikipedia article on this is pretty comprehensive.
[3] 2011 cap. 14, we are hereafter going to call this the "2011 Act"
[4] Actually a pair of Orders
[5] The London Gazette, Supplement 59388, page 6393, published Tuesday, 13th April 2010 (text above taken from this one, but all three are identical)
[6] The Edinburgh Gazette, Supplement 26774, page 1461, published Tuesday 13th April 2010
[7] The Belfast Gazette, Supplement 7181, page 1, published Tuesday 13th April 2010
[8] See this video on Youtube
[9] And this one, which albeit for 2015 has the ceremonial correct even if the Lord Lyon is reading the post-2011 Act proclamation.
[10] To be found in Schedule 1 to the Representation of the People Act 1983 (cap. 2), and you specifically want this version.
[11] This is actually in a table in the original, which I can't easily reproduce here, but you get the idea.
[12] This originally said "tenth" until amended by the Representation of the People Act 1985 (cap. 50)
[13] Whereas in the past all (or almost all) Orders-in-Council were gazetted, this remained essentially the last example of this.
[14] Some Returning Officers (let's ignore the Acting bit for now) obviously serve for multiple constituencies, but the office is specific to each one, so this is an example of an official wearing multiple "hats"
[15] As specified in the Appendix of Forms to the Parliamentary Election Rules.
[16] This proviso was added by the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 (cap. 19), which essential decoupled the ceremonial nature of counties in Wales from all aspects of local governance — an administrative farrago well outwith this blog's scope!
[17] The gory details can be found in rules 3 and 4 of the Parliamentary Election Rules, and in the Parliamentary Writs Order 1983 (S.I. 1983 No. 605). I will blog about just this one aspect of elections in the future since it is quite involved!
[18] No, not post 1999 elections, we are going back the other way...
[19] I say theory, but this did happen more than once.
[20] 1999 cap. 34
[21] This varies by rank of the peer in question, so that a Duke has "right trusty and right entirely beloved cousin"; a Marquess or an Earl "right trusty and entirely beloved cousin"; and a Viscount "right trusty and well-beloved cousin".
[22] "Counsellor" is included only for Privy Counsellors
[23] The continuing presence of "Chevalier" here remains one of life's mysteries
[24] Since 2000, the words "Great Women" also appear here.
[25] S.I. 1982 No. 1082; this also contains full texts of the Letters Patent appointing Peers, writs to summon the Convocations of Canterbury and York, and some other oddities.
[26] Reproduced from the appendix first report of the Committee of Privileges, 1998-99. Which is online somewhere if you Google, but I have it on paper.
[27] Note the lack of a "the" or a "Right Honourable". An accelerated peer lived in a sort of limbo between a courtesy title and a real one.
[28] He was made a life peer on 17th November 1999 to enable him to remain in the Lords, became Marquess in 2003, and retired from the Lords in 2017 (to my great sadness, a House of Lords without a Salisbury is incomplete)
[29] See footnote 26; for other Law Officers and so on the forms would be very similar.
[30] Votes and Proceedings, Session 2014-15, No. 134
[31] Orders Approved, 30th March 2015
[32] The London Gazette, No. 61188, page 6014, 30th March 2015
[33] The Edinburgh Gazette, No. 7749, page 246, 30th March 2015
[34] The Belfast Gazette, No. 27542, page 430, 2nd April 2015
[35] 6° Anne cap. 11 and 1707 ca. 7 (Scotland)
[36] 1963 cap. 48
[37] The Scottish Representative Peers Act 1707, 6° Anne cap. 48 (which I have failed to find in Statutes of the Realm, but the Peerage Act 1963 purports to repeal it so it must have existed  somewhere!)
[38] The Representative Peers (Scotland) Act 1847, 10° & 11° Vict. cap. 52; The Representative Peers (Scotland) Act 1851, 14° & 15° Vict. cap. 87.
[39] One of the Great Officers of State of Scotland, presently the Lord Mackay of Clashfern, who was amusingly the Lord Chancellor that Writ in Acceleration warrant above was directed to.
[40] The London Gazette, Supplement 41821, page 5971
[41] The Edinburgh Gazette, Supplement 17752, page 2
[42] The Belfast Gazette, Supplement 1995, 335
[43] 39° & 40° Geo. III. cap. 67 and 40° Geo III. cap. 38 (Ireland)
[44] By the Synodical Government Measure 1969 (No. 2), which amended the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919 (9° & 10° Geo. V. cap. 76)
[45] The 1966 General Election only didn't cause this effect by mere weeks, as we will shortly see.
[46] Well it's really because I went to the effort of typing them out because the 1970 Order has not be OCRed...!
[47] Crown Office (Writs for Dissolving and Summoning Convocations) Rules 1970 (S.I. 1970 No. 821)
[48] This is easily my favourite line in any writ or warrant anywhere. It today displaced my previous favourite, which is in the old dissolution proclamation "discharged from their attendance thereat"
[49] 1966 cap. 2
[50] Section 2 gives it a short title and doesn't even bother to give it an extent or commencement clause...
[51] Sub-section 2 is actually of some minor current import, since it provides viz. "A Convocation of Canterbury or York shall (unless sooner dissolved pursuant to Her Majesty’s directions) stand dissolved at the expiration of the period of five years [...] beginning with the date for which it was called together.", which would be this Summer since General Synod quinquennia are intentionally synchronised with years divisible by five; necessitating section 84 of the Coronavirus Act 2020 to provide a power for Her Majesty to suspend the otherwise inevitable dissolution. Presumably this also means the Convocations were never dissolved between 1935 and 1945, being at the time coupled to Parliament's existence.
[52] Votes and Proceedings, No. 137, Session 2016-17
[53] Votes and Proceedings, No. 143, Session 2016-17
[54] Orders Approved, 25th April 2017
[59] Votes and Proceedings, No. 341, Session 2017-19 — and despite the Vote here recording that the House "adjourned" it did not not. It was prorogued, in a prorogation subsequently (and let's ignore my opinions on that for now) quashed, and the Journals were then vandalised by the order of the Speaker, to the loss of all future historians (and even to my minor confusion earlier when I couldn't remember where the invalid prorogation had gone).

3 comments:

  1. I wasn't expecting to tell you this isn't long and comprehensive enough, but the footnote numbers in the main body seem to reset from 49 to 40, leaving some presumably unfootnoted.

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    Replies
    1. That is a typo, thankfully (every footnote is there, but they might not join up correctly). Though I'll need to work out what I missed when I re-ordered things before I can fix it.

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