<P> The conditions for when a snap election can be called have been significantly restricted by the Fixed - term Parliaments Act 2011 to occasions when the government loses a confidence motion or when a two - thirds supermajority of MPs vote in favour . Prior to this , the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom had the de facto power to call an election at will by requesting a dissolution from the monarch -- the limited circumstances where this would not be granted were set out in the Lascelles Principles . There was no fixed period for holding elections , although between 1997 and 2015 there was a convention that the government should hold elections on the same date as local elections on the first Thursday of May . Since World War II , only the 2015 general election was held on the latest possible date ( 7 May 2015 ) , due to being the first general election at the end of a fixed - term Parliament . </P>
<P> The conditions for when a snap election can be called have been significantly restricted by the Fixed - term Parliaments Act 2011 to occasions when the government loses a confidence motion or when a two - thirds supermajority of MPs vote in favour . Prior to this , the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom had the de facto power to call an election at will by requesting a dissolution from the monarch -- the limited circumstances where this would not be granted were set out in the Lascelles Principles . There was no fixed period for holding elections , although between 1997 and 2015 there was a convention that the government should hold elections on the same date as local elections on the first Thursday of May . Since World War II , only the 2015 general election was held on the latest possible date ( 7 May 2015 ) , due to being the first general election at the end of a fixed - term Parliament . </P>
when does the british prime minister call for an election
when does the british prime minister call for an election
at will by requesting a dissolution from the monarch
at will by requesting a dissolution from the monarch