This petition was submitted during the 2015 to 2017 Parliament
Closed petition Change the law, so that UK citizens can force an immediate General Election.
Closed on
At present a vote of no confidence can only be called by parliament, leaving majority governments in an almost untouchable position. This means that governments can break promises or make decisions that are destructive to the country, and the electorate can do nothing until the next election.
Citizens should be able to hold the government to account at all times, not just during General Elections. The law needs to be changed so that a petition of 'no confidence' to parliament, containing the signatures of at least 51% of the population means a General Election is immediately called.
14,178 signatures
Petition progress
View all updates for this petition, with the most recent first.
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Petition closed
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Government responded to this petition
Majority governments are far from untouchable. An early election may be called if a motion of no confidence is passed in the House of Commons and no motion of confidence is passed within 14 days.
Read the response in full
The Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, which came into force in 2011 under the Coalition Government, removed the power to set the general election date from the Government and gave a power to the House of Commons to call an early general election in certain circumstances.
An early general election can only be called under the Act if either a motion (as worded in section 2(2) of the Act) that there shall be an early parliamentary general election is passed by the House of Commons with at least two thirds in favour of the motion; or if a motion of no confidence (as worded in section 2(4) of the Act) is passed by the House of Commons and the House does not pass a motion of confidence (as worded in section 2(5) of the Act) in the Government or an alternative Government within 14 days. Aside from these triggers there is no way to replace the Government through an early General Election.
The Act means majority Governments are far from untouchable, and marked a significant and unprecedented transfer of power from the Government to the House of Commons. As such, it was felt appropriate during the passage of the Act to include a statutory requirement for the Prime Minister to appoint a committee to review the operation of the Act between 1 June 2020 and 30 November 2020. The Government has no plans to review or change the current arrangements prior to that review.
Cabinet Office
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Government will respond to this petition
This petition got more than 10,000 signatures meaning that government will respond to it.
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Petition published
This petition can now be signed.
If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.
If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.
This petition will stay open until 15 July 2016.