Abstract

The results of the 2010 general parliamentary election caused the so called "Hung Parliament". The Country is governed thanks to a coalition government formed by the Tories and the Liberal Democrats. Their "Coalition Agreement" offers several interesting and innovative hints to a discussion in a constitutional perspective. The essay analyses the most relevant institutional reforms that are part of the Government's priorities for the coming Parliamentary year (a Parliament with a fixed term, a new power to dissolve Parliament given to an at least 55% parliamentary majority, a referendum on the electoral law; an elective "House of Lords" and the introduction of a sort of "Recall"). It then moves on to describing the debate that these announcements caused in the United Kingdom and finally it prospectively analyses the potential consequences that these reforms would have on the "constitutional conventions" that traditionally are the basis of the British form of government.