How the Fixed Term Parliament Act has destroyed our constitution

The coalition between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives tore a gaping hole in the British constitution that was not understood at the time but through which we are now falling headlong. It has allowed a zombie Government to stagger about in the middle of the greatest British political crisis for several decades when in fact it should already have resigned.

The hole was created by the Fixed Term Parliament Act (FTPA) which was seen at the time as a clever expedient to ensure that the coalition led by David Cameron could not be easily dismantled. But it had the unintended consequence of destroying the carefully woven set of conventions that underpinned the notion of confidence in the Government.

The Government is apparently ignoring the pre-existing convention that it should resign if it loses a vote of confidence using the excuse that its wish to call an election has been thwarted under the rules of the FTPA. But the way our constitution has always worked is that whilst the outgoing PM had the power to call a General Election, this has been subservient to the fact that PMs have only stayed in office if they have the confidence of the House of Commons. You can see this in some examples quoted by Catherine Haddon, below. For example Baldwin resigned, in 1923, only after losing a vote on his Queen's Speech following the 1923 General Election to allow Ramsay Macdonald to form a Labour Government.

The way that the Government (aided implicitly by the Opposition in that they have so far not tabled a vote of confidence) have so far behaved is to make us look more unstable than Italian Government. In that case, as illustrated very recently, when it became apparent that he no longer had a Parliamentary majority (given Salvini's defection from the Govt), PM Conte tendered his resignation. He has only continued because a new Government coalition has been formed.

Yet Johnson, despite having no majority on the key issue of the day, has sat tight. The acid test of whether the British constitution has been totally blown is whether a) he will lose the vote on his Queen's Speech after October 14th and b) if he loses whether he resigns. If he does not resign, the UK will be an even bigger global laughing stock than it already is. Our constitution will be plainly totally shot, with conventions that no longer work in the light of the FTPA and the bankruptcy of British politicians.

It may not be the politicians' fault that there are deep divisions over Brexit, but it patently IS their fault that this zombie Government continues to stagger on. Either it should resign or the Opposition must no-confidence it under the terms of the FTPA if it won't go otherwise. Anything else is total lunacy.

http://theconversation.com/hung-parliaments-have-voted-down-the-queens-speech-before-heres-what-happened-79384