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Proceeding contribution from Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Labour) in the House of Lords on Tuesday, 10 May 2011. It occurred during Debate on bill on Fixed-term Parliaments Bill.


Fixed-term Parliaments Bill

I apologise for interrupting my noble and learned friend Lord Goldsmith but he is obviously unaware that there is evidence as to how the five years came in. Mr David Laws’ book states that Andrew Stunnell pointed out that, "““trust and confidence was very important to us, and that we wouldn’t want to find the PM calling an election at a time that did not suit us. ‘That works both ways!’ said William Hague. We mentioned that our policy””—" this is the Liberal Democrats— "““was for four-year, fixed-term parliaments. George Osborne made the point that five-year parliaments were better, as they allowed governments to get into implementing their plans … We made no objection to this, and Britain was on its way to five-year, fixed-term parliaments for the first time in its history””." I thought my noble and learned friend would like to know what the evidence was.


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
727 c787 
Session
2010-12
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Devolution Elections Legislatures Fixed-term parliaments Dissolution Referendums Parliament Scotland Wales Coalition governments Statutory instruments Sunset clauses
Legislation
Fixed-term Parliaments Bill 2010-12
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk