Section 48 and Schedule 18: Powers to act for the protection of public health: Northern Ireland Section 62: Power to postpone a recall petition under the Recall of MPs Act 2015
A recall procedure for Members of Parliament is set out in the Recall of MPs Act 2015 (the "2015 Act"). MPs can be recalled in certain circumstances, for example, if they are convicted in the UK of an offence, or if they are suspended from the House of Commons for a specified period. The recall procedure includes a petition being made available for signing for 6 weeks for registered electors to sign. To be successful, 10% of eligible registered voters need to sign the petition. If the 10% threshold is reached, the Speaker of the House of Commons is notified, the MP’s seat becomes vacant and a by-election is required.
	This section does two things. First, it relaxes the duty on the petition officer under section 7(4) of the 2015 Act in relation to the designation of the first day of the 6-week petition period. Instead of being required to designate the 10th working day after the day on which the officer receives a Speaker’s notice that one of the recall conditions has been met, or the nearest reasonably practicable working day after that day, the petition officer is required to designate a working day falling no later than 6th May 2021 (or, if that is not reasonably practicable, the nearest reasonably practicable working day after that day). This therefore relaxes the timetable for cases where a Speaker’s notice has been given but the beginning of the 6-week petition period has not yet been designated.
	Secondly, this section then deals with the case of a recall petition where the petition officer has designated a day for the beginning of the petition period, and that day falls between the date on which this Act came into place (25th March 2020) and 5th May 2021. In such a case, the Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office may by regulations provide that the designated day is postponed until a date specified in the regulations (falling no later than 6th May 2021).
	This section provides that the Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office’s power may be exercised more than once in respect of a single recall petition. This section also provides that a statutory instrument containing such regulations is subject to negative procedure in Parliament.
	The territorial extent and application of this section is England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.