An election to the House of Commons is formally begun by the issue of a
writ by the
Clerk of the Crown in Chancery. In the case of a by-election, the
Speaker must first issue a warrant to the Clerk of the Crown to allow the Clerk to issue a writ. The most common reason for the Speaker to issue a warrant is that he has been required to do so by a resolution of the House of Commons itself. This requires an MP to move a motion to command the Speaker to issue his warrant. Such motions are moved at the start of proceedings in the House of Commons. Usual parliamentary convention, codified by the Speaker's Conference in 1973, is that such a motion is moved by the
Chief Whip of the party to which the former MP belonged. However, this convention is not always followed, and such a motion can be moved by an MP of another party. This can arise because the former MP did not belong to a party: the writ for the
by-election arising from the death of
Independent Republican Frank Maguire was moved by
Jim Molyneaux, leader of the
Ulster Unionist Party; and after
Bobby Sands died on
hunger strike the writ for a
second by-election was moved by
Dafydd Elis-Thomas of Plaid Cymru. When all Unionist MPs from Northern Ireland resigned to force
by-elections on the
Anglo-Irish Agreement, the writs were moved by senior
Conservative backbencher Sir
Peter Emery. Since the date on which the writ is issued also fixes the date of the by-election, it is possible (as was done in the Northern Ireland example) to pass a motion requiring the Speaker to issue his warrant on a set future date. This procedure was followed in 1983 when Conservative MP
Michael Roberts died on 10 February. On 19 April,
Plaid Cymru MP
Dafydd Wigley moved that a writ be issued for a by-election in
Cardiff North West, explaining that the by-election was being unnecessarily delayed. The
Leader of the House of Commons,
John Biffen, successfully moved an amendment to provide that the writ would only be issued on 10 May, three months after his death, in accordance with the recommendations of the Speaker's Conference of 1973. In the event, on 9 May the Queen granted a dissolution of Parliament to take place on 13 May; Biffen therefore moved a motion on 10 May to discharge the previous motion. Unnecessary delay was also the explanation given for the decision of the
Liberal Democrats to move the writ for the
Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election in December 2010, despite the former MP having been from the
Labour Party. As moving a writ for a by-election takes priority over all other business, MPs sometimes use it as a
filibustering tactic. This has been done twice by
Dennis Skinner; in 1985 he scuppered a
Private Member's Bill banning
stem-cell research from
Enoch Powell by talking extensively when moving the writ for the
Brecon and Radnor by-election, and in January 1989 moved the writ for the
Richmond (Yorks) by-election and spoke for over three hours so as to prevent
Ann Widdecombe from moving a motion to grant extra time to her attempt to restrict
abortion laws.
Writs in a recess When Parliament is not sitting, the Speaker may be required to issue his writ during a recess. The first legal provision for a by-election writ to be moved in the recess was the '
(24 Geo. 3. Sess. 2. c. 26), which remained in force until replaced by the ' (c. 66) on 12 December 1975. The procedure for issuing a writ involves two MPs presenting the Speaker with a certificate stating that there is a vacancy. The Speaker must then publish notice of his receiving the certificate in the
London Gazette; six days after inserting the notice in the
London Gazette, the Speaker will issue a warrant for the new writ. Recess writs cannot be issued where the vacancy has arisen as a result of an MP resigning. The Speaker is empowered to appoint between three and seven senior MPs to exercise his powers to issue recess writs when he is out of the country or there is no Speaker.
Bankruptcy Under section 33 of the
Bankruptcy Act 1883 (
46 & 47 Vict. c. 52), where a Member of Parliament is declared
bankrupt, they are granted a period of six months to discharge themselves. At the end of that time the court which ordered the bankruptcy is required to notify the Speaker, and the seat is vacated. The Speaker is required to insert a notice in the
London Gazette of the fact and then to issue a warrant for a new writ after six days.
Cancellation If it comes to light that a vacancy has not properly been declared, a writ for a by-election can be cancelled by a further
writ of supersedeas. The last such occasion was in 1880 when
Henry Strutt (Member for
Berwick-upon-Tweed) succeeded to the Peerage as
Baron Belper; a writ was issued on 6 July, before Strutt had received a
writ of summons to the
House of Lords, and so the Liberal Chief Whip moved on 8 July for a writ of
supersedeas to be issued. If the polling day for a by-election is overtaken by a dissolution of Parliament, the writ is automatically cancelled. The most recent cancellation of a planned by-election was in
Manchester Gorton which was due to take place on 4 May 2017, on the same day as the local elections, but was cancelled when Prime Minister
Theresa May called a snap general election for 8 June 2017 and Parliament was dissolved before 4 May. The previous such occasion was in 1924 when a writ for a by-election in
London University was issued during the recess on 22 September 1924. Four candidates were nominated when nominations closed on 1 October, with polling scheduled for 13–17 October. When the government fell over the
Campbell Case, the Prime Minister obtained a
snap dissolution on 9 October, and the by-election did not take place.
Reform A Speaker's Conference on electoral law in 1973 proposed several changes to how by-elections are usually conducted: 1. The Conference, conscious that the intervals before the issue of by-election writs have on occasion been unduly prolonged, put forward the following guidelines: (a) The motion for a writ for a by-election should normally be moved within three months of a vacancy arising. (b) It is inexpedient for by-elections to be held in August, or at the time of local elections in April/May, or in the period from mid-December to mid-February before (under present arrangements) a new Register is issued. (c) Consequently, if this restriction should bring the date of the by-election into one of these periods, the by-election should if practicable be held earlier. If this is impractical the period should be lengthened by the shortest possible additional time. The total period (from vacancy to the moving of the writ) should not be more than four months. (d) In the fifth year of a Parliament, some relaxation of these guidelines should be allowed, in order if possible to avoid by-elections being held immediately before a general election. The Speaker's Conference recommended that these provisions should be embodied in a resolution of the House, but no such resolution has been proposed. ==Political significance==