A petition calling for a General Election to be held has received over 2.9 million signatures in the past week.
The Government must respond to all petitions with 10,000 signatures and debate all petitions with 100,000 signatures.
As such, a debate on whether to hold a general election is scheduled to be held in the House of Commons on January 6.
The Labour Party enjoyed a landslide election victory in July, winning 411 of the 650 constituencies represented in the UK Parliament. But a series of setbacks has seen them receive hefty criticism from all quarters.
Keir Starmer’s first Chief of Staff, Sue Gray, resigned in October after being criticised for micromanaging his Downing Street Operation.
It followed criticism of “Freebie-Gate” where Starmer was attacked for accepting free clothes and spectacles from Labour peer, Lord Waheed Alli.
The recent Budget, unveiled by Rachel Reeves, Labour’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, has also been criticised for raising taxes.
Michael Westwood, a pub landlord and Conservative voter, launched the petition last week.
Westwood cited an increased tax on National Insurance for employers and changes to business relief that were announced in Labour’s first budget as reasons for launching the petition.
He claimed it would be “detrimental” for small businesses like his own.
During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, newly-elected Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch mocked Starmer.
Badenoch said the petition showed over “two million asking him to go”. Badenoch later called for Starmer to resign.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Elon Musk have raised awareness of the petition online, including on X, which Musk owns.
There have also been questions raised over who it is that is signing the petition – some speculate not all signatories are British citizens.
Still, it remains doubtful that this petition will lead to a general election being called anytime soon.
Starmer said that in the July General Election, Labour received nearly 10 million votes, which was a “massive petition”.
The most popular e-petition was in 2019, when 6.1 million people signed a petition asking the British Government to cancel Brexit, though it failed.
“Rachel Reeves, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner” by © UK Parliament / Maria Unger is licensed under CC BY 3.0.