Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 19 November 2012.
John Penrose
Conservative, Weston-Super-Mare
2:30,
19 November 2012
Last week there was also a parliamentary By-election in Manchester Central, where the turnout was 18%, yet I notice that nobody is arguing that it was in any way a shambles or that there was a lack of a democratic mandate. Does my right hon. Friend agree that all this says more about the Opposition’s party political point scoring than about any concern for police matters?
A by-election occurs when a seat in the House of Commons becomes vacant during the lifetime of a Parliament (i.e. between general elections) because the sitting MP dies, resigns, is elevated to the peerage, or becomes ineligible to sit for some other reason. If a vacancy occurs when the House is in session, the Chief Whip of the Party that formerly held the seat moves a Motion for a new writ. This leads to the by-election taking place. Prior notice does not have to be given in the Order Paper of the House. There is no time limit in which a new writ has to be issued, although by convention it is usually done within three months of a seat becoming vacant. There have been times when seats have remained empty for more than six months before a by-election was called. The sitting party will obviously choose a time when they feel confident of success. Seats are often left vacant towards the end of a Parliament to be filled at the General Election though this is not always the case and by-elections have sometimes occurred just before the dissolution of Parliament. While a vacancy exists a member of the same party in a neighbouring constituency handles constituency matters. When the new Member is elected in the by-election, all outstanding matters are handed back. Further information can be obtained from factsheet M7 at the UK Parliament site.
The Opposition are the political parties in the House of Commons other than the largest or Government party. They are called the Opposition because they sit on the benches opposite the Government in the House of Commons Chamber. The largest of the Opposition parties is known as Her Majesty's Opposition. The role of the Official Opposition is to question and scrutinise the work of Government. The Opposition often votes against the Government. In a sense the Official Opposition is the "Government in waiting".
