Have your say! Should Keir Starmer call a general election?

A petition calling for the government to begin another general election has been quickly picking up steam over the weekend. The petition, which was started last week, has been widely shared on social media by people, politicians and influential celebrities.

Have your say! Should we go back to the polls for the fifth time in ten years? Does a petition like this have any weight to it? Comment below, and join in on the conversation.

The petition, on the official government government website, reads: "I would like there to be another General Election. I believe the current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election."

The opportunity to share it widely has been seized on Labour's political opponents and popular social media figures. Reform UK MPs have been asking people to sign it to show their displeasure at the government, with Rupert Lowe MP saying: "Register your discontent, register your anger, register your disgust with this Labour Government. Send Starmer a message. Sign, share, and share again."

Former Tory MP Mark Jenkinson said: “It looks like we’re heading for a parliamentary debate on having a general election and ‘the current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election’.”

Olympics medalist Sharron Davies MBE also said she had signed it, and Britain’s strictest headmistress Katharine Birbalsingh observed: “Wouldn’t it be extraordinary if Parliament had to debate this?”

The government is obligated to at least respond to any effort that reaches 10,000 signatures, and will consider for debate any that reach 100,000. It has been widely labelled as the fastest growing petition ever, and currently sits at third place on the most popular petitions charts.

The first and second spots on the chart are both to do with Brexit. Over 6 million people asked the government in 2019 to reverse Brexit and remain in the EU, and in 2016, over 4 million asked for a second referendum on the subject - neither was successful, but both did received debate time in Parliament.

The Labour party have had a controversial start to their time in government in 2024, getting unpopular policies out of the way early into their term. Means-testing Winter Fuel Payments, and a big tax-and-spend Autumn Budget, are big changes for the country - but ministers have said that they have to make "tough choices" in order to reverse what they called the "damage" that 14 years of Conservative rule did the country.

Have your say! Should we go back to the polls for the fifth time in ten years? Does a petition like this have any weight to it? Comment below, and join in on the conversation.