Le inaspettate elezioni britanniche del 2017

The article is divided into two parts. In the first, the Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011 and its application are examined, with particular attention to the first case of approval of a dissolution motion by the House of Commons. According to the Author, the 2011 Act limited the Government's advantage in calling general elections. Indeed in 2017, although the parliamentary majority supported the First Minister decision to go to the polls, Theresa May has been obliged to appeal to Parliament for the dissolution of the lower Chamber. The second part analyses the controversial results of 2017 general elections. After the vote, the political and institutional system is agitated by many uncertainties. On the one hand, the turnout was high, as did the popular consensus for the two main parties, which succeeded in neutralising UKIP. On the other hand, the Conservative Party lost the majority of seats in the House of Commons and was forced to form a minority government (supported by DUP); the Labour Party did not suffer the burning defeat that polls predicted, but remained the country's second party. From the institutional point of view, the Brexit referendum resulted in an enhancement of the Executive branch, leading the Brexit negotiations, but which is weakened by the difficulties arising at international level and by territorial tensions reactivated by 2016 popular vote.