Rejected petition We’ll support minimum turnout rules for strikes if the same rules are applied to all elections

Recent strikes by the London Fire Brigade and Tube staff have led to calls for minimum turnouts before strike action can be legally called. Many of these calls have come from the likes of London Mayor Boris Johnson and the right-leaning press and commentators, but forget that turnout in other elections are often lower. For example, Boris Johnson was elected with 51% of the vote on a 38% turnout, this means that Boris became mayor with the support of only 19% of London's voters. Turnout at the Police and Crime Commissioner elections in 2012 had record low turnout of 15% which means those currently controlling police budgets in England and Wales were elected with the support of as few as 7% of the voters in the area.

If current attempts to introduce minimum turnouts in union ballots are successful, it is only fair that the same turnout requirements are imposed on all other elections, especially to important positions such as MPs, local authority councillors and PCCs.