Rejected petition Require the Prime Minister to directly answer questions at PMQs

PMQs is a vital part of parliamentary democracy, allowing MPs to hold the Government to account on behalf of the public. There is widespread concern that the PM frequently fails to directly answer the specific questions asked during PMQs. Responses often consist of pre-prepared statements.

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We therefore call on the House of Commons to debate and consider changes to its procedures and conventions so that:
• The Prime Minister is expected and required to provide a direct and relevant answer to the substance of questions asked at PMQs.
• The Speaker is empowered (or encouraged through updated guidance) to remind or direct the Prime Minister to address the specific question when it is clear that the response is evasive or unrelated.
This would help restore public confidence in PMQs as a meaningful accountability mechanism

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 1 April 2026
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