Rejected petition Reform House of Commons procedures to ensure substantive answers during PMQs.

We call on the Government to reform the Standing Orders of the House of Commons and introduce new oversight mechanisms to ensure the Prime Minister and Ministers provide substantive answers to questions

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We call for three reforms:

Empower the Speaker: Amend rules to allow the Speaker to rule an answer as "non-responsive," requiring a formal follow-up.

Independent Oversight: Establish a Parliamentary Ombudsman to review the accuracy and relevance of statements made at the dispatch box.

Formal Accountability: Introduce a mechanism for the House to vote on whether a Minister has failed to provide a substantive answer, with sanctions for repeated non-compliance.

These changes are essential to restore public trust and ensure PMQs serves its purpose as a tool for genuine scrutiny

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.

You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.

You may wish to sign the following petition, which calls for similar action:

Introduce standards for answers to PMQs to be enforced by the Speaker
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/762566

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.

Date submitted 25 March 2026
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