Professor Petra Schleiter comments on the Fixed-term Parliaments Act

Petra Schleiter was quoted in an article (1 April) called ‘Election 2015: The Americanisation of the UK election’ for the BBC News Magazine (online).

She is quoted as saying that the main benefit of having a fixed date is it makes elections easier to manage and more fair, by taking away the power the prime minister has in setting the date.

"If you fix electoral terms, it deprives the prime minster of that bonus," she says. "It sort of levels the electoral playing field."

The full article can be read here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32156264