Nearly half a million people have signed a petition demanding an early general election in the wake of Liz Truss’ tumultuous time in office.
Parliament will now debate the UK government and parliament petition after it passed the 100,000 thresholds on September 29 — the day Ms Truss vowed to stick by her controversial economic plan.
Four days on, and the signature total now stands at more than 470,000.
A debate date has yet to be decided.
Petition organiser Darrin Charlesworth said: ‘The chaos engulfing the UK government is unprecedented. Over 40 ministers resigned leaving departments without leadership during cost of living, energy and climate crises.
‘War rages in Ukraine; the Northern Ireland Protocol has further damaged our relationship with Europe; recession looms; the UK itself may cease to exist as Scotland seeks independence.
‘This is the greatest set of challenges we have seen in our lifetimes. Let the people decide who leads us through this turmoil.’
The government shrugged off the petition on September 20, saying: ‘The UK is a parliamentary democracy and the Conservative Party remains the majority party.
‘The prime minister has pledged to ensure opportunity and prosperity for all people and future generations.’
The government said the Tories in charge will ‘remain the case’ given the party’s success in the 2019 general election which saw Boris Johnson elected prime minister.
So unless an earlier one is called, the next election won’t be until January 2025.
It added: ‘A change in the leader of the governing party does not trigger a general election – this has been the case under governments of successive political colours.’
The petition was made as early as July, according to digital archives, and it’s fair to say a lot has happened since then.
At the time, it had only a dozen or so signatures. But it gained thousands of signatures in the weeks leading up to Ms Truss’ instalment as prime minister.
The petition was launched months before Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget catapulted the country further into crisis, sending the pound into a tailspin and leading the Bank of England to intervene before it was too late.
Even former culture secretary Nadine Dorries has said Ms Truss should call for a general election.
Widespread dismay at the fact that 3 years of work has effectively been put on hold. No one asked for this.
— Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) October 3, 2022
C4 sale, online safety, BBC licence feee review – all signed off by cabinet all ready to go, all stopped. If Liz wants a whole new mandate, she must take to the country. https://t.co/xKtcnZyVYi
Ms Dorries, who backed Ms Truss in the leadership election, tweeted today that there was ‘widespread dismay’ at the prime minister for scrapping key parts of Mr Johnson’s agenda.
‘Three years of work’ had effectively been put on hold, Ms Dorries said.
She added: ‘No one asked for this. C4 [Channel 4] sale, online safety, BBC licence fee review, all signed off by cabinet all ready to go, all stopped.’
‘If Liz wants a whole new mandate, she must take to the country.’
