Whereas prior agreements had to be renewed every few years, the new one has no fixed term.

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American mortgages are mostly long-term and fixed, with no penalties for early repayment.

ECONOMIST: American banks

Wales's Assembly, unlike the Westminster Parliament, is elected for a fixed term, so there is no possibility of new Assembly elections.

ECONOMIST: Wales

Mr Thomas said, with fixed term parliaments planned, there was no reason not to push for limits on annual expenditure at a national level - rather than simply in the run-up to an election.

BBC: Michael Farmer and Stuart Wheeler on donors & influence

Casual and charming, but careless of others, steeped in quiet judgment and long-term calculation, his life a fixed agenda that, no matter what happened, would continue on its set course, to whatever end he had decided he deserved.

NEWYORKER: The Bell Ringer

To avoid allowing a "zombie government" to stagger on for years, unable to muster a majority to pass any new laws, the Fixed Term Parliaments Bill, says an election will be called 14 days after a lost confidence vote if no alternative government is able to show they have the confidence of MPs.

BBC: Q&A: Fixed term parliaments

The Government is already faced with the need to find time to attempt to reverse unwelcome changes made by the Lords to the Fixed Term Parliaments Bill, the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill, the European Union Bill, and no doubt, in due course, the Localism Bill and the Welfare Reform Bill as well.

BBC: Health Bill facing tight timetable in Parliament