British politics: parliamentary fixed terms

[calimac]

This commentary by a Canadian observer is the clearest explanation, both of the new law and of its political implications, that I've seen. And yes, he has it accurately; the person he begins by quoting is, as he suspects, wrong.

Comments

[jpmassar.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

If I understand this correctly, the Liberal Democrats only real threat is to force a no-confidence vote and then form a government with (pretty much
everyone but the Tories, which would govern for the remainder of the five year term. They simply cannot engineer an election unless the Tories want it too.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I think the idea is to prevent either party from being able to stab the other in the back.