More than 2.8 million people have signed an online petition calling for another general election, with Parliament now scheduled to debate it on January 6.
The petition has been fuelled by support from Elon Musk, who tweeted “wow” in response to the petition breaking the 200k target in six hours.
According to the BBC, the petition is the third most popular e-petition since 2010.
Here is how we have got to this point.
What has happened?
Fewer than five months after winning the general election on July 4, the Labour government has been the target of intense criticism for its post-election initiatives, such as removing the Winter Fuel Payment and adding a new farmer inheritance tax.
Michael Westwood is the individual behind the petition. He has called for “another general election” in protest of the Labour administration, saying that the government has “gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election”.
Mr Westwood, a small business owner, was once well-known for owning the Waggon and Horses, the “cheapest pub” in the UK, where pints cost as little as £2.30.
He started the petition on October 31, a day after the Budget was presented.
“I think people have had enough, people have seen what’s happened over in America as well, and I think that’s had a knock-on effect that, actually, if people stand together and vote then we can make a change,” Mr Westwood told The Express.
How does the petition process work?
As of Thursday morning, November 28, almost three million signatures have been added to the petition, according to the UK Government and Parliament’s petitions website.
The criteria mentions that a petition requesting a change to the law or policy will be addressed by the UK Government once it has accumulated more than 10,000 signatures.
The petition gets taken up for discussion in Parliament if it receives more than 100,000 signatures. The Petitions Committee – which reviews petitions on the website – has said that the debate will take place on January 6, in Westminster Hall, a secondary debating chamber.
Will Sir Keir Starmer have to call a general election?
Sir Keir is not headed in the right direction in terms of appealing to the general population.
According to recent polls, the Labour government has suffered severe defeats in its first four months in power.
Additionally, the popularity of Sir Keir has drastically declined.
The Labour Party is viewed negatively by 49 per cent of the public, three points behind the Conservative Party, according to an Ipsos poll. Meanwhile, two out of five Britons believe that their situation has become worse since Labour took office.
Just 19 per cent of people think that Britain is on the right track, while at least 56 per cent think that it is going in the wrong direction.
But it remains incredibly unlikely that the prime minister will call an election for a few years. Based on precedent, it would be a
