| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to make provision for a parliamentary general election to be held on 12 December 2019. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 2019 c. 29 |
| Introduced by | Boris Johnson, Prime Minister (Commons) Baroness Evans of Bowes Park, Leader of the House of Lords (Lords) |
| Territorial extent | United Kingdom |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 31 October 2019 |
| Commencement | 31 October 2019 |
| Repealed | 24 March 2022 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 |
| Relates to | Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 |
Status: Repealed | |
| History of passage through Parliament | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
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Electoral history
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Mayor of London Foreign Secretary Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
First ministry and term (July – December 2019)
Second ministry and term (December 2019 – September 2022)
Post-premiership
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The Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019 (c. 29), also known as the Election Bill, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made legal provision for the holding of the 2019 general election on 12 December 2019.[1]
The act was fast-tracked in its passage through Parliament, meaning that it completed all of its stages in the House of Commons in a single day, on 29 October 2019, and received its formal First Reading in the House of Lords on the same day. It completed its remaining stages there on 30 October, and received royal assent, thereby becoming law, on 31 October.[2][3]
The act was a very unusual piece of constitutional legislation, as it made the 2019 general election unique by being the first (and quite possibly only) national election in UK history to have been triggered by a piece of specific legislation that circumvented the operation of ordinary electoral law. The act also directly demonstrated the ancient principle of Parliamentary sovereignty that Parliament cannot bind its successors.
The ordinary law on parliamentary general elections at the time of the passing of the act was the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 ("FTPA"), under which elections took place every five years, except that an early general election could be triggered by the House of Commons in either of two ways: a resolution supported by at least two-thirds of the total membership of the House, or a vote of no confidence in the government, when an election must be called after fourteen days unless a motion of confidence has been passed. The 2019 Act, being a new Act, required only a simple majority of the members voting in order to pass.
The act automatically became spent upon the conclusion of the election and was repealed by the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 which also repealed the FTPA on 24 March 2022.
- ^ "UK set for 12 December general election after MPs' vote". BBC News. 29 October 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
- ^ "Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019". UK Parliament. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
- ^ Pichetal, Rob (29 October 2019). "Britain set for December 12 election after MPs approve snap poll". Cable News Network. Retrieved 31 October 2019.