Duration of English, British and United Kingdom parliaments from 1660
This is a list of the parliaments of the United Kingdom, of Great Britain and of England from 1660 to the present day, with the duration of each parliament. The NP number is the number counting forward from the creation of the United Kingdom in 1801 and Great Britain in 1707. Prior to that, the parliaments are counted from the Restoration in 1660.
The duration column is calculated from the date of the first meeting of the parliament to that of dissolution.
Key to abbreviations in the NP column:
CP: Convention Parliament: In seventeenth century usage a convention was a body in the form of a parliament, which had been summoned by a de facto ruler rather than a de jure monarch. Once the convention had recognised a de jure sovereign it could then convert itself into a parliament. The 1660 convention restored King Charles II of England. The 1689–90 convention offered the throne jointly to King William III of England and Queen Mary II of England.
^ abThe MPs of the 2nd Parliament of England in the reign of Queen Anne (elected 1705) and 45 members co-opted from the former Parliament of Scotland, became the House of Commons of the 1st Parliament of Great Britain in 1707. The duration for the 1st Parliament of Great Britain, in brackets, is counted from the first meeting of that Parliament to its dissolution. The duration for the 2nd Parliament of England in the reign of Queen Anne is counted from the first meeting of that Parliament in 1705 to the dissolution of the 1st Parliament of Great Britain in 1708.
^ abThe MPs of the 18th Parliament of Great Britain (elected 1796) and 100 members co-opted from the former Parliament of Ireland, became the House of Commons of the 1st Parliament of the United Kingdom on 1 January 1801. The duration for the 1st Parliament of the United Kingdom, in brackets, is counted from the first meeting of that Parliament to its dissolution. The duration for the 18th Parliament of Great Britain is counted from the first meeting of that Parliament in 1796 to the dissolution of the 1st Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1802.
^This, the first parliament since the Civil War to exceed 7 years, was so long because of the extension of the length of this parliament for the duration of the First World War.
^At the time of the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, there was little more than a year before the 37th UK Parliament was due to dissolve, but its duration was extended until hostilities in Europe were over. This led to the eventual length of almost ten years for this parliament.
^This was the only dissolution under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, which set the parliamentary term at a fixed five years, supposedly barring a Prime Minister from calling an election early for political gain, as had been the common practice.[1]