ABSTRACT
The Septennial Act of 1716 provided a precedent for an existing Parliament prolonging its own life beyond the period for which it had been elected, but for 200 years the rhythm of general elections was in fact left to be governed by the Act. A Prime Minister might be expected to request a dissolution because his Government proposed to embark on policy so much at variance with the programme on which it won the last election that it considered that it must ask the people, through a new election, for approval. Something like a negative precedent against the mandate dissolution may have been set, and the artificiality of a general election over a single issue is now generally recognised; a Government must deal with many unforeseeable problems while in office, and research-findings show that few electors vote on issues. The new committees set up between 1966 and 1970 were an attempt to respond to the new needs.
