Time To End Election "Fiasco"

10.49.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 29th Oct 2007

West Worcestershire's Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate has called for the Prime Minister to be stripped of the power to decide the date of the general election.

Richard Burt wants the length of a Parliament to be fixed at 4 years so that a Prime Minister cannot call a snap election at a time that gives his or her party an advantage.

Speaking at a meeting of members, Richard Burt said: "Residents across Worcestershire were treated to the spectacle in early October of a country preparing for a general election.

"Gordon Brown had the power to call it and for a while he was ready to do so because he thought it was in the interest of his own party to do so.

"But he pulled back from firing the starting pistol only because he realised he would probably lose the election.

"The people should not be treated in this way. The Prime Minister should not have this huge amount of power to make decisions in his or her party's political interest rather than the national interest.

"Liberal Democrats across Worcestershire strongly believe that each Parliament should last four years. The date of the general election should be set in law rather than by the Prime Minister.

"This is the case for elections to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh National Assembly. It should be the case for the UK Parliament as well. So I am pleased that Liberal Democrats MPs are pressing for this improvement.

"I urge all MPs and parliamentary candidates in Worcestershire to join with the Liberal Democrats in supporting this change so we can avoid a repeat of the chaos residents witnessed earlier in October."