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Originally Posted by Morphismus
...but what are these circumstances?
Basically, prorogation is permitted to allow for a Queen's Speech followed by a State Opening of the new Parliamentary session, or else for a General Election. Prorogation marks the end of a Parliamentary session, but not the end of that Parliament, which would be dissolution.
In the event of a General Election, Parliament is prorogued first and then dissolved at the statutory interval before the election. On dissolution, the Parliament then ceases to exist, which, between sessions, it doesn't. On dissolution, MPs cease to be MPs and can't put those letters after their names. On prorogation, that doesn't happen.
If it's just for a Queen's Speech, prorogation is only for a few days -- to prepare the Lords' chamber to receive both Houses and the Sovereign -- and there's no dissolution. When prorogued, Parliament can still be recalled. When dissolved, it can't be.
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In how far would the UK be a worse place if prorogation didn't exist?
Prorogation is simply an order, short of outright dissolution, that 'Parliament doesn't need to sit for the time being.' (And a date of resumption must always be given in the prorogation order.) Since the Civil War, Parliament cannot be prorogued to prevent actions by the executive, but only for the purposes stated above.
The Supreme Court ruling in R (Miller) v Prime Minister and Cherry & Others v Advocate General of Scotland has lately clarified the matter.
https://www.supremecourt.uk/prorogation/index.html
Hope that clears that up.
Last edited by 57 On Red; 09-26-2019 at 02:15 PM.