by Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrat), when they both launched their official campaigns. Following his visit to Buckingham Palace, Blair returned to Downing Street to make the formal announcement of the calling of the election. With the session of Parliament being shortened, the government needed the co-operation of the opposition parties in order to pass its legislation. This meant that many Bills under review were scrapped, including national identity cards, and a ban on the sale of psychedelic mushrooms. Others were drastically scaled back in order to gain the acceptance of the opposition: a major crime bill passed without a clause criminalizing "incitement to religious hatred", and the proposal to allow super-casinos was passed but with a restriction that permits only one to go ahead, instead of the eight that had most recently been proposed. The last session of Parliament was prorogued by the Lords Commissioners on behalf of the Queen on 7 April, after Royal Assent had been given to all the Acts passed in the last few days of the Parliament. The prorogation stated that a new session would be opened on 14 April but in practice this will not happen as the present Parliament will be dissolved on 11 April (it is a formality that Parliament is not prorogued without setting a time when it will meet again). In practice the new Parliament will be summoned on 11 May for the election of a Speaker and the swearing-in of Members, and will be formally opened on 17 May by the Queen. Campaign events between date of announcement and election day The election was announced on 5 April 2005 and the election was held on 5 May 2005. Ed Matts Soon after the election was called, Ed Matts, Conservative candidate for the South Dorset constituency, was forced to apologise for the manipulation of a photograph from a rally campaigning against the deportation of Ugandan asylum seekers from Weymouth. The original posters consisted of a picture of the family and the slogan 'Let Them Stay', but these were changed to 'Controlled Immigration' and 'NOT Chaos and Inhumanity' respectively. The second poster in each case was held by Ann Widdecombe, a former Shadow Home Secretary. The photographs made the front page of The Times. Ed Matts has since been forced to apologise for a false claim that the then MP, Jim Knight, who held the smallest Labour majority in the UK,