Power to avoid election date clash devolved to Scottish Parliament

15 June 2015

The Government has fast tracked the Scottish Parliament’s ability to set the 2020 election date as they had been scheduled to take place on the same date as the UK elections.

As a result of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, elections to both the UK and Scottish Parliaments had been scheduled to take place on the same day in 2020.

The change will allow the Scottish Parliament to introduce and pass legislation to avoid this happening. Holyrood will be able to set a date which avoids holding the poll on the same day as UK Parliament, European Parliament or local government elections.

The move is consistent with the Smith Commission’s recommendation that power over Scottish elections should be devolved to the Scottish Parliament.