Dissolution of Parliament

The last session of Parliament began with the Queen's Speech on 14 October 2019 and lasted three weeks and two days.

In that time MPs said goodbye to Speaker John Bercow and elected Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, sat on a Saturday for the first time since 1982 and passed legislation for an early parliamentary general election.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle elected Speaker

On 4 November, Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP was elected to replace John Bercow as Speaker, whose last day in the Chair was Thursday 31 October. After four rounds of voting, Sir Lindsay gained 325 votes. After being dragged to the Chair he gave his first speech, where he vowed to "ensure that parliamentary debate is often robust but always respectful".

• Read more about the Speaker election process here
• Read more about Speaker Hoyle

Saturday sitting

The House of Commons sat on Saturday 19 October to debate the Government's Brexit deal. This was the first time MPs had sat on a Saturday since the Falklands War.

To comply with the Benn Act (officially known as the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019) the House of Commons needed to agree to this deal, vote for a no deal before Saturday 19 October 2019 or ask for an extension to Article 50.

• Read more about what happened during the Saturday sitting
• Read more information about the decision to sit on a Saturday

Legislation

MPs passed three pieces of legislation in this session.

• Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019
• Northern Ireland Budget Act 2019
• Historical Institutional Abuse (Northern Ireland) Bill [HL] 2019–20 

Speaker's Chaplain

On 30 October 2019, Rev Canon Patricia Hillas was announced as the new Speaker's Chaplain. A former youth and social worker, Tricia was the Canon Pastor at St Paul's Cathedral, where she supported families affected by the Grenfell tragedy.

• Read more about Rev Canon Patricia Hillas 

More information on dissolution

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