UK by-elections
I assumed that a by-election in the UK is automatic, like they are in NZ, but I find out from No Right Turn that the House has to pass a motion to issue the writs for a by-election, which allows the Government to delay or in theory not even have a by-election.
Now in NZ, a by-election is automatic unless the House specifically votes not to have one, as a general election is due within six months. This can only be used if the writ for the current Parliament is due to expire within six months of the vacancy being declared in a seat, or if the PM tables a statement announcing the date of the election, and that date is within six months.
In the UK they also operate a six month rule, but by convention – not by statute. This does allow a Government to go outside the convention and NRT cites a case where they delayed a by-election until the polls were better.
While our Electoral Act is still far from perfect and needs a full rewrite for MMP, it is nice that we have more rigorous laws than our “mother”.
January 6th, 2010 at 9:50 am
As I/S – and more particularly, the article to which he links – points out, the UK does not actually have such a convention.
Some will say that there’s not enough point with a general election in the offing. … In fact, if you take the trouble to look at recent parliaments, you will find that late byelections are not as uncommon as the existence of a supposed “six-month rule” might suggest. The Conservatives called a byelection in Wirral South in February 1997, for example, just weeks before the end of the 1992-97 parliament. Labour likewise called a Greenwich byelection in February 1987, even though a general election was imminent. The Liberals, as they then were, did likewise in Truro the following month. Most strikingly of all, Labour even called a byelection in Liverpool Edge Hill in late March 1979, with a general election dissolution only days away. The victorious Liberal winner in Edge Hill, David Alton, took his seat on 3 April, even though parliament was dissolved just four days later.
January 6th, 2010 at 10:29 am
Grand dad says ” Some kids do have good ideas when they get out from under our feet
”
January 6th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
This seems an unnecessary comparison, as the backwardness of the UK parliamentary system, particularly compared with NZ, is nothing surprising nor new. Executive power in the UK is far more entrenched, and controlling, than in NZ, the Civil Service is a Labour fantasy, and the country operates as little democracy as possible to keep the name. That and the fact that to enter Parliament you have to be dematerialised and rematerialised to prove you aren’t in any way human, and still be subject to sufficient security to occupy Iraq, and yeah, are we really surprised? We keep comparing ourselves to a ‘mother country’ that hasn’t been anything like us for probably close to thirty years. That we speak ‘the same’ language, have historic ties, and use to be a very patriotic nation is all well and good, but modern NZ resembles the UK as much as we resemble any other English-speaking country. The difference is, we remain devoted to a sense of connexion that is more myth than anything else.
January 6th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
But mother generally follows conventions. We don’t, so we have to have rules.
January 6th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
perhaps true, tvb, but the actual convention in the UK is that by-elections are held even if a general election is imminent.
January 6th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
I caught a bit of David Cameron the other day .. he used words like .. aspire, responsibilty, reward to those who want to be part of the ecomony AND the goody was he suggested that Labour were trying to create a class war by saying Cameron was pushing policies that would help the rich and not the poor. Sounds like Cameron is following Key and Labour Clark/Cullen.