The amount of signatures required to initiate a debate in parliament has been exceeded by an online petition advocating for a general election."I would like there to be another general election," says the petition, which was created by Michael Westwood, a resident of the United Kingdom. The pledges made by the current Labour Government in the run-up to the last election, in my opinion, have been broken. Since its creation on Wednesday, the petition has received a lot of social media shares. At 9:19 p.m. Thursday, it easily surpassed the 100,000-signature mark after obtaining over 37,000 signatures in the hour before.Passing the mark means that the motion will now be considered for a debate in parliament although there is no guarantee that this will occur.
The government website states: "Petitions which reach 100,000 signatures are almost always debated. But we may decide not to put a petition forward for debate if the issue has already been debated recently or there's a debate scheduled for the near future."If that's the case, we'll tell you how you can find out more about parliamentary debates on the issue raised by your petition."MPs might consider your petition for a debate before it reaches 100,000 signatures."
The government will also have to respond as it has to consider all all petitions which get more receive more than 10,000 signatures.
The petition caps off a difficult week for the government which has seen them take on protesting farmers due to a highly contentious decision to stop the exemption from inheritance tax on farms over £3 million.Prime Minister Keir Starmer's popularity is amongst the worst of any of his predecessors in modern times within their first year in office, with a recent poll showing the Labour party has now fallen to 25%, down 2 points since November 11, its lowest share of the vote yet.The removal of winter fuel payments, discontent over the handling of domestic riots and a controversial budget have all contributed to declining popularity.This means just one in four voters support the governing party, down nearly nine points since the general election in July.
More in Common's UK director Luke Tryl said that while we're still a long way off the next election, he said it is "notable" that "a party that won a landslide less than six months ago is down 10 points and now on 25%"
He also warned that while they may be topping the poll, it's not great news for the Conservatives either.
The two main parties now muster just 53% support between them.
Mr Tryl added: "Part of this reflects Labour's missteps, partly its anti-incumbency and greater volatility, but beyond that, there is a deep unhappiness with the status quo and life in modern Britain."
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