Should polling day move to Saturday? Neil Parpworth thinks so
Before very long speculation will start to mount as to the likely date of the next general election which must take place on or before 3 June 2010 (see Election Timetables, House of Commons Research Paper 07/31, 22 March 2007, at pp.10–11). Even at this stage, however, we can be more or less certain of one thing; that election day itself will be a Thursday. There is no law that says that this must be so. It has simply become a convention for general elections to be held on a Thursday. Thus since 1945 every general election has been held on this day of the week. In a statement made to Parliament in conjunction with the publication of the green paper, The Governance of Britain, Cm 7170 (July 2007), the prime minister said: “Britain is unusual in holding elections on weekdays, when people are at work, and the Secretary of State for Justice will announce a consultation on whether there is a case for voting at weekends.”
The consultation paper to which Brown referred was
