Rejected petition: MPs who resign can’t stand in subsequent by-election
Rejected on
If an MP decides to resign mid-way between general elections, therefore triggering a by-election, they should not be permitted to then stand in that by-election. If they’ve resigned, they don’t feel they can represent their constituents, so shouldn’t be permitted to immediately in that constituency
Constituents should not be used as political weapons to support political careers. An MP should be a staunch representative of their constituency. If they resign mid-way through a term as the MP for that constituency, it is because they feel they can no longer fulfil that role. They should not then have the ability to be nominated as a candidate in the forthcoming by-election to replace them, as they’ve said they can’t fulfil the role.
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: "Prevent MPs who resign their seat from standing for re-election for 12 months" https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/776390
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.