Why are British election dates not as rigid as American ones? US elections are on Nov 3 every four years. But in the U.K. there was one on 2010, then no election til 2015 and then one in 2017

Question

Why are British election dates not as rigid as American ones? US elections are on Nov 3 every four years. But in the U.K. there was one on 2010, then no election til 2015 and then one in 2017

In: 0

Answer 1

Because some people think that having unplanned elections is better. I think the UK still has a rule about the maximum length of a term, but it can be ended before that if there is a “vote of no confidence”. In that case the term ends early and there is an election.