Rejected petition Call for a General Election if a Prime Minister resigns

Update the Fixed-term Parliaments Act (or relevant constitutional legislation) to mandate that a General Election must be held within 60 days of a Prime Minister resigning their office.

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Under the current system, when a Prime Minister resigns, the governing party can choose a new leader who becomes Prime Minister without a national vote. This allows for significant changes in policy, direction, and cabinet composition without a direct mandate from the British electorate
We believe that the British public should have a say in who leads the country and call on the Government to ensure that the power to choose a leader is returned to the voters whenever the incumbent leaves office

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 this petition, which calls for similar action: "The removal or death of a PM should trigger a general election" https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/760199

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

Date submitted 30 March 2026
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