Off Topic Politics Thread

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Main hall at Tory Conference
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Meanwhile, a pro-EU fringe event with David Gauke and Michael Heseltine
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GE Now petition up to 453,000 this morning. If you haven’t signed it yet, here it is:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/619781

I have signed it. I am surprised that the number of signatures is still under 1/2 million.

At what point would this need to be debated in parliament seeing as it appeared to have already been brushed aside. ? If it went into the tens of millions, how would the government react. I cannot imagine that anyone other than Tory party members is happy with the current government. A general election needs to be forced somehow.
 
I have signed it. I am surprised that the number of signatures is still under 1/2 million.

At what point would this need to be debated in parliament seeing as it appeared to have already been brushed aside. ? If it went into the tens of millions, how would the government react. I cannot imagine that anyone other than Tory party members is happy with the current government. A general election needs to be forced somehow.
It has to be considered for debate at 100,000 signatures. Parliament isn’t sitting for another 2 weeks though, by which time it will hopefully be well over 1 million.
 
It has to be considered for debate at 100,000 signatures. Parliament isn’t sitting for another 2 weeks though, by which time it will hopefully be well over 1 million.

The Govt replied to this petition on 20th September 2022 to state the fact that they are obliged to remain in office for the statutory period. My query was more along the lines of what if this petition creeps up to about 10-20 million. Is the Govt then obliged to listen? How does the populace deal with a government when there is an over-whelming majority for it to be removed ? The statement is suggestive that government can act against the will of the people. Other than writing to your local MP, how does the average man-in-the-street go about working towards removing a government when it clearly no longer has a mandate from the people prior to the point at which the government has served out it's term. If the signature reached over 50% of the population, would opposition MPs to obliged to call a no confidence vote ?

I can see a point being reached by which the Conservative party is in a more parlous position than it was in 1997. There is not appetite amongst the populus for the current government to see out it's term.
 
The Govt replied to this petition on 20th September 2022 to state the fact that they are obliged to remain in office for the statutory period. My query was more along the lines of what if this petition creeps up to about 10-20 million. Is the Govt then obliged to listen? How does the populace deal with a government when there is an over-whelming majority for it to be removed ? The statement is suggestive that government can act against the will of the people. Other than writing to your local MP, how does the average man-in-the-street go about working towards removing a government when it clearly no longer has a mandate from the people prior to the point at which the government has served out it's term. If the signature reached over 50% of the population, would opposition MPs to obliged to call a no confidence vote ?

I can see a point being reached by which the Conservative party is in a more parlous position than it was in 1997. There is not appetite amongst the populus for the current government to see out it's term.
I hear what you say, but the Commons is controlled by the MP’s, not the electorate. If the petition reached 20 or 30 million the government could legitimately ignore it as long as they command a majority in the HoC. That, of course, can no longer be taken entirely for granted.
 
The Govt replied to this petition on 20th September 2022 to state the fact that they are obliged to remain in office for the statutory period. My query was more along the lines of what if this petition creeps up to about 10-20 million. Is the Govt then obliged to listen? How does the populace deal with a government when there is an over-whelming majority for it to be removed ? The statement is suggestive that government can act against the will of the people. Other than writing to your local MP, how does the average man-in-the-street go about working towards removing a government when it clearly no longer has a mandate from the people prior to the point at which the government has served out it's term. If the signature reached over 50% of the population, would opposition MPs to obliged to call a no confidence vote ?

I can see a point being reached by which the Conservative party is in a more parlous position than it was in 1997. There is not appetite amongst the populus for the current government to see out it's term.


The only thing the government is obliged to do is call a GE before Dec 2024. There is a convention that a government which fails to pass a budget through the HoC is considered to have lost the trust of the house, at which point a GE would be called; but Parliamentary convention doesn’t seem to matter much these days. Which is a little alarming seeing as our constitution depends on many conventions.
 
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The Govt replied to this petition on 20th September 2022 to state the fact that they are obliged to remain in office for the statutory period. My query was more along the lines of what if this petition creeps up to about 10-20 million. Is the Govt then obliged to listen? How does the populace deal with a government when there is an over-whelming majority for it to be removed ? The statement is suggestive that government can act against the will of the people. Other than writing to your local MP, how does the average man-in-the-street go about working towards removing a government when it clearly no longer has a mandate from the people prior to the point at which the government has served out it's term. If the signature reached over 50% of the population, would opposition MPs to obliged to call a no confidence vote ?

I can see a point being reached by which the Conservative party is in a more parlous position than it was in 1997. There is not appetite amongst the populus for the current government to see out it's term.
It could be 40 million and they won’t call it.

Tory manifesto slogan: “For the few, not for the many”.
 
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The petition has topped 500,000, so that’s 50k in 24 hours. In theory it should accelerate as more people sign, as they share it on their social media to reach people who haven’t heard about it yet. The important point though, is that it has to at least be debated, even if that’s just a non-binding debate in Westminster Hall. That’s what happened with the Brexit 2nd Referendum petition which reached over 6 million signatures.