This is the most dysfunctional UK Parliament since...

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Obviously the Parliament elected in 2017 is a shambolic megadisaster. When was the most recent one that was as bad or worse?

[CumbrianLefty]

The last one (2015-17) was also pretty bad tbf.

Even if ultimately mistaken, May's decision to go for a snap poll was understandable.

[brucejoel99]

The last one (2015-17) was also pretty bad tbf.

Even if ultimately mistaken, May's decision to go for a snap poll was understandable.

This is true. After all, it's easy to know the right thing to do after something has happened, but it's hard af to predict the future.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

February 1974 was dysfunctional by very definition.

[Lumine]

The 74-79 parliament was certainly dysfunctional in many ways, but I'd contend it wasn't as bad as this one. The March-September 1974 one was just too brief (and arguably politically successful in the sense that the end of the strike, the budget and so on paved the way for a Labour victory in October), it would have taken a rejection of Wilson's Queen Speech and subsequent constitutional disarray for things to get bad.

As to 74'-79' Wilson and Callaghan did manage to govern and get a few things done - whether those were positive or not is a different argument -, managed to close deals with other parties for the sake of stability and/or surviving of a VONC (Lib-Lab pact) almost until the end, and the internal discipline of the government did not collapse even if there were defections (Scottish Labour Party, Reg Prentice, etc). Heath and Thatcher were not exactly good opposition leaders (Heath was Heath, and Callaghan regularly trounced Thatcher in the House) but they could be reasonably competent, and even if the Liberals were riddled with the Thrope affair they didn't go down in flames either.

I think you'd have to go to the early 1920's to find something as dysfunctional as today.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

The paradoxical thing about the 1974-1979 parliament was that for the most of time the government, despite lacking the majority (and having only nominal one at the beginning), was stunningly effective given the circumstances. Something that can't possibly be said for the May ministry.