Table of contents

Approximate read time: 10 minutes

1. King’s speech: Timing

The date of the King’s Speech is established as follows. Each parliament is divided into sessions. The King’s Speech takes place at the beginning or within a few days of the beginning of each session. The power to set the duration of each session is a prerogative power of the King, exercised by the government.[1] Sessions may start and end at any time during the year. While sessions usually last for 12 months, the length of sessions may also vary. Both of these factors mean it is possible to have a calendar year when no King’s Speech takes place.

During the twentieth century, there were three years with no King’s Speech: 1915, 1925 and 1949. However, only in 1949 can this be ascribed to the session being significantly longer than average. Between 1900 and 1951, the median number of House of Commons sitting days each session was 143.[2] The number of sitting days for the relevant sessions were as follows:

  • The 1914–16 session (during the First World War) ran from 11 November 1914 to 27 January 1916, during which the House of Commons sat for 155 days.
  • The 1924–25 session ran from 2 December 1924 to 22 December 1925, during which the House of Commons sat for 148 days. The next King’s Speech did not take place until 2 February 1926.[3]
  • The 1948–49 session ran from 26 October 1948 to 16 December 1949, during which the House of Commons sat for 208 days.

On all three occasions during the twenty first century when there was no Queen’s Speech—2011, 2018 and 2020—the relevant sessions were longer than the average for the period. Since 1999, the average number of sitting days per session has been 159 in the House of Commons and 160 in the House of Lords.[4] The duration of these three long sessions was as follows:

  • The 2010–12 session ran from 18 May 2010 to 1 May 2012, during which the House of Commons sat for a total of 295 days. The House of Lords sat for 293 days.
  • The 2017–19 session ran from 13 June 2017 to 8 October 2019, during which the House of Commons sat for a total of 349 days. The House of Lords sat for 352 days.
  • The 2019–21 session ran from 17 December 2019 to 29 April 2021, during which the House of Commons sat for a total of 209 days. The House of Lords sat for 222 days.[5]

2. Long sessions since 1900 resulting in no King’s/Queen’s Speech

2.1 1948–49 session

During the latter part of the 1948–49 session, the Attlee government sought to negotiate an agreement with opponents in the House of Lords regarding legislation to nationalise the iron and steel industries.[6] Agreement was reached in November 1949. Labour postponed the date for iron and steel entering into public ownership until 1951—after a general election—and the bill was passed. Parliament was prorogued on 16 December 1949 and dissolved in February 1950. The Labour Party won the subsequent general election.

2.2 2010–12 session

In September 2010, part-way through the 2010–12 session, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government announced that the next Queen’s Speech would be in 2012.[7] The government argued this was necessary as a result of its plans to set a five-year period between general elections as set out in the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill. The then leader of the House of Commons, Sir George Young (now Lord Young of Cookham), stated the government intended to establish five 12-month sessions for each parliament. Sir George argued that extension of the session until spring 2012 was necessary to avoid a truncated session taking place at the end of that parliament.

The decision to extend the first session of the 2010–15 parliament was criticised in the House of Lords during the passage of the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill. Lord Grocott (Labour) argued the lengthening of the time between Queen’s Speeches advantaged the government in securing its legislative agenda at the expense of scrutiny from the opposition.[8] Lord Grocott tabled an amendment to the bill requiring there to be a minimum of five parliamentary sessions in each five-year parliament. Responding to this amendment, the then advocate general for Scotland, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, stated it was the government’s intention that subsequent sessions would last for only 12 months.[9] Lord Grocott’s amendment was withdrawn.

The Fixed-term Parliaments Act received royal assent on 15 September 2011 but was subsequently repealed by the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022.[10]

2.3 2017–19 session

Shortly after the 2017 general election, the Conservative government, led by Theresa May (now Baroness May of Maidenhead), announced the first session of the new parliament would be extended to two years.[11] As a result, there was to be no Queen’s Speech in 2018. The government argued this extended session was necessary to enable Parliament to deal with a substantial legislative programme, much of which concerned the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

Theresa May left office and was replaced as prime minister by Boris Johnson in July 2019. The government announced on 28 August 2019 that Parliament would be prorogued in September 2019, and a new session would begin on 14 October 2019.[12] However, the prorogation on 9 September 2019 was declared unlawful by the Supreme Court.[13] The 2017–19 session eventually ended with the lawful prorogation of Parliament on 8 October 2019.

2.4 2019–21 session

The 2017–19 session was followed by a short 2019 session, in which the House of Commons and the House of Lords both sat for only 15 days. Parliament was then dissolved prior to the 2019 general election.

The Queen’s Speech at the start of the 2019–21 session took place on 19 December 2019.[14] On the same day, the then shadow leader of the House of Commons, Valerie Vaz, asked the then leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, how long the government planned for the session to last.[15] Mr Rees-Mogg did not confirm how long the session might be. In January 2020, the possible length of the session was raised again during oral questions to Mr Rees-Mogg.[16] Chris Bryant (then Labour MP for Rhondda) asked whether the government intended to follow recent precedent by ending the current session in May or to continue it for longer. Mr Rees-Mogg again declined to say when the session might end.

Ms Vaz asked the government on several subsequent occasions when the current session would end.[17] However, it did not confirm when the session would end until after the end of 2020. In March 2021, the government stated the next Queen’s Speech would take place on 11 May 2021.[18] The session ended on 29 April 2021.

Although the government did not confirm when the session would end until 2021, the House of Commons and the House of Lords began to refer to the session as the 2019–21 session in its publications from January 2020 onwards.

2.5 2024–26 session

The 2024–26 session began on 9 July 2024. On 29 August 2024, Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell said the government intended for the current session to last until 2026.[19] She said this was necessary to ensure the government was able to progress with its legislative agenda.

3. Other variations in session length

In addition to those listed above, other long sessions also have taken place since 1900. After the 1966 general election, the 1966–67 session lasted from 18 April 1966 to 27 October 1967.[20] The House of Commons sat for a total of 246 days. This is the third largest number of House of Commons sitting days during a session since 1900. However, because of when in the year this session began and ended, this did not prevent a Queen’s Speech from happening in either 1966 or 1967.

In the past, the first session of each parliament has tended to be longer than average. Between the 2001–02 and 2023–24 session, the average length of the session at the start of each parliament was 237 sitting days in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The average for other sessions during a parliament was 131 sitting days in the House of Commons and 132 sitting days in the House of Lords.

4. ‘Swearing-in’ days

The King’s Speech usually takes place at the start of each session. However, the first session of a new parliament begins with a couple of days in which MPs and peers are sworn in. The King’s Speech takes place following these ‘swearing-in’ days.

5.  Read more

Cover image: Copyright House of Lords 2019/photography by Roger Harris on Flickr.

References

  1. House of Lords, ‘Companion to the Standing Orders and Guide to the Proceedings of the House of Lords’, 2024, para 3.2. Return to text
  2. House of Commons Library, ‘Number of sitting days in the House of Commons by session since 1900’, 24 May 2024. Return to text
  3. HL Hansard, 2 February 1926, cols 1–4. Return to text
  4. House of Commons Library, ‘Number of sitting days in the House of Commons by session since 1900’, 24 May 2024; and House of Lords Library, ‘House of Lords data dashboard: Business and sittings of the House’, 1 May 2024. Return to text
  5. During the Covid-19 pandemic, both Houses amended their procedures to allow members to participate virtually. These totals include days when both Houses either sat virtually or in hybrid proceedings. Further information is provided in the House of Lords Library briefing, ‘House of Lords: Remote participation and hybrid proceedings’, 8 July 2021 and the House of Commons Library briefing ‘How did the Commons respond to the Covid-19 pandemic?’, 24 March 2025. Return to text
  6. Times (£), ‘Government compromise on the Steel Bill’, 16 November 1949. Return to text
  7. HC Hansard, 13 September 2010, cols 33–4WS. Return to text
  8. HL Hansard, 10 May 2011, cols 868–71. Return to text
  9. HL Hansard, 10 May 2011, cols 873–5. Return to text
  10. Further information on the repeal of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 is provided in the House of Commons briefing, ‘Dissolution of Parliament’, 20 April 2023. Return to text
  11. Prime Minister’s Office, ‘Government to confirm two-year parliament to deliver Brexit and beyond’, 17 June 2017. Return to text
  12. Privy Council, ‘Orders approved at the Privy Council held by the Queen at Balmoral on 28 August 2019’, 28 August 2019, accessed using the Internet Archive. Return to text
  13. R (on the application of Miller) v The Prime Minister; Cherry and Others v Advocate General for Scotland [2019] UKSC 41. Return to text
  14. HL Hansard, 19 December 2019, cols 7–9. Return to text
  15. HC Hansard, 19 December 2019, col 130. Return to text
  16. HC Hansard, 9 January 2020, col 634. Return to text
  17. For example HC Hansard, 5 November 2020, col 483 and HC Hansard, 26 November 2020, col 981. Return to text
  18. HC Hansard, 25 March 2021, col 1089. Return to text
  19. David Lynch, ‘Parliament will continue current session until spring 2026, ministers announce’, Independent, 28 August 2025. Return to text
  20. Roger Mortimer and Andrew Blick eds, ‘Butlers British Political Facts’, 2018, pp 307–10. Return to text