This House of Lords Library Briefing has been prepared ahead of the second reading in the House of Lords of the Early Parliamentary General Election Bill scheduled to take place on 30 October 2019. The remaining stages of the bill are also due to take place on 30 October if the House agrees to a government motion to dispense with the standing order that would normally prevent more than one bill stage taking place on the same day.
Early Parliamentary General Election Bill: Briefing for Lords Stages (249KB PDF)
On 29 October 2019, the House of Commons passed a bill to set the date of the next parliamentary general election as 12 December 2019.
Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (FTPA), the next parliamentary general election was scheduled to take place in May 2022, unless the Commons followed one of the routes in the FTPA for holding an early general election.
Since September 2019, the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has tried three times to secure an earlier election by asking the House of Commons to agree a motion for an early general election. This is one of the mechanisms set out in the FTPA for holding a general election ahead of the usual schedule. However, on each occasion, Mr Johnson failed to secure the two-thirds Commons majority that is required by the FTPA for an early election to go ahead.
If a general election takes place on 12 December 2019, Parliament will be dissolved just after midnight at the start of 6 November 2019.
The date for Parliament to return after a general election would be appointed by the Queen in a proclamation. Boris Johnson has suggested he would recommend to the Queen that the first meeting of the new Parliament should take place before 23 December 2019.
The bill was fast-tracked through the House of Commons in one day on 29 October 2019. The Government is seeking to do the same in the House of Lords on 30 October 2019.
A Labour amendment, supported by the Liberal Democrats, to set the date of the election as 9 December 2019 was defeated in the Commons by 315 votes to 295.
Early Parliamentary General Election Bill: Briefing for Lords Stages (249KB PDF)
The House of Lords (Alternative Second Chamber Bill) [HL] is a private member’s bill introduced by Baroness Smith of Llanfaes (Plaid Cymru). It would require the secretary of state to carry out a consultation regarding proposals for replacing the House of Lords with an alternative second chamber. The bill specifies whom the secretary of state would be required to consult with and the timeframe of that consultation.
![House of Lords (Alternative Second Chamber) Bill [HL]: HL Bill 11 of 2026–27](https://lordslibrary-parliament.studio24.dev/content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/House-of-Lords-568x426.png)
The bill is a government bill that would make a range of changes to the legal framework concerning elections, including extending the franchise for UK parliamentary elections and other reserved elections to 16- and 17-year-olds. The bill was amended during both its committee and report stages in the House of Commons, with many of the government’s later amendments implementing recommendations from the Rycroft review on countering foreign financial influence and interference in UK politics.
Social media and other technologies have made it easier, quicker and cheaper for foreign powers to spread false information online aimed at undermining UK democracy. Such disinformation campaigns are one type of interference operation. In parallel, researchers have noted a link between declining public trust and societal polarisation, which can be exacerbated by online discourse. This briefing provides introductory reading to these issues, including recent reports and government announcements.
