Principal Offices
Members of Parliament wishing to give up their seats are commonly appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to an office which has the possibility of a payment from the Crown. A number of offices have been used for this purpose historically, but only two are provided for in present legislation. The two offices which currently allow Members to vacate their seats are:
- Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham
- Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead
The offices are only nominally paid. Generally they are held until they are again used to effect the resignation of an MP. The Chiltern Hundreds is usually used alternately with the Manor of Northstead, which makes it possible for two members to resign at the same time. When more than two MPs resign at a time, as for example happened when 15 Ulster Unionist MPs resigned in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement on 17 December 1985, the resignations are in theory not simultaneous but instead spread throughout the day, each member holding one of the offices for a short time. The holder may subsequently be re-elected to Parliament.
Read more about this topic: Resignation From The British House Of Commons
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