The Government has been removing names from the petition calling for a no confidence vote in David Cameron

Last Updated: November 19, 2015By

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It’s not as bad as it seems – there are still nearly twice as many names on the petition as are needed to secure a discussion on whether there should be a debate on the subject in Parliament.

But there remains the fact that the Conservative Government has been removing names from a Parliament e-petition on the grounds that they are “fraudulent”.

We don’t know which names have been removed, or on what criteria. All we know is that civil servants say 6,208 signatures matching these criteria have been removed.

This is setting a dangerous precedent – especially on a petition that should have received a response from the government after it achieved 10,000 signatures – three months ago. So far, there has been nothing but silence.

What does this tell you?

Civil servants have been removing signatures from a petition calling for MPs to debate a no confidence vote in David Cameron.

More than 6,000 “fraudulent” names were removed from the e-petition, which accuses Mr Cameron of causing “devastation for the poorest in society for the last 5 years”.

But despite the Government removing the 6,208 signatures, the petition has won the backing of more than 188,000 people.

MPs on the Petitions Committee will decide whether MPs should debate the motion.

Source: Government officials remove more than 6,000 names from petition calling for no confidence vote in David Cameron | UK Politics | News | The Independent

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32 Comments

  1. ian725 November 19, 2015 at 1:20 am - Reply

    Can they legally remove names from a Petition. My we are now just like a 3rd world dictatorship. Orwell just whispered in my ear ‘Told ya so !’

    • timeless November 19, 2015 at 2:20 am - Reply

      l was able to sign again, using the same details as l had used last time.. l can see no reason why l was removed..

  2. John Ingleson November 19, 2015 at 2:23 am - Reply

    That’s probably only the ‘tip of the iceberg’ as to what’s actually been removed / prevented / manipulated…

    “How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations”
    https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/

  3. John Ingleson November 19, 2015 at 2:36 am - Reply

    And of course, Google executives’ close association to No 10 has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with any manipulation of search engines…

  4. hilary772013 November 19, 2015 at 4:39 am - Reply

    Just received email as below:-

    The Petitions Committee decided not to debate the petition you signed – “Vote no confidence in David Cameron”

    The House of Commons Petitions Committee has decided not to schedule a debate on this petition, because the Committee does not have the power to schedule debates on motions of no confidence, and the petition does not contain a specific request for action on policy.

  5. Jeffery Davies November 19, 2015 at 5:44 am - Reply

    Heil hitler

  6. Gary Bowman November 19, 2015 at 7:18 am - Reply

    Is there no morality within the Government anymore?

  7. maxxev November 19, 2015 at 7:44 am - Reply

    Got a message this morning.
    “The Petitions Committee decided not to debate the petition you signed – “Vote no confidence in David Cameron”
    The House of Commons Petitions Committee has decided not to schedule a debate on this petition, because the Committee does not have the power to schedule debates on motions of no confidence, and the petition does not contain a specific request for action on policy.
    It is usually more effective to start a petition calling for a specific change to government policy or the law, rather than a petition about an individual Minister.
    It is still open to MPs to seek time for a debate on this petition in the main House of Commons Chamber, if they wish to do so. However, debates on motions of no confidence are fairly rare”

    • maxxev November 19, 2015 at 7:45 am - Reply

      So we need to start a petition on giving the petitions committee the power to schedule debates of no confidence then….

      • Phil Lee November 19, 2015 at 3:18 pm - Reply

        Funny that they debated a petition of no confident in Jeremy Hunt a few weeks ago, isn’t it.
        Fraudulent misrepresentation of themselves as being democratic, I reckon. Why don’t we try again with demanding that Hameron and co be tried for crimes against humanity and gerrymandering, and censured by parliament for lying to the electorate and the house?

  8. Jonno R November 19, 2015 at 8:21 am - Reply

    It’s not going to happen anyway. I just received this email;

    Dear************* DWP victim,

    The Petitions Committee decided not to debate the petition you signed – “Vote no confidence in David Cameron”

    The House of Commons Petitions Committee has decided not to schedule a debate on this petition, because the Committee does not have the power to schedule debates on motions of no confidence, and the petition does not contain a specific request for action on policy.

    It is usually more effective to start a petition calling for a specific change to government policy or the law, rather than a petition about an individual Minister.

    It is still open to MPs to seek time for a debate on this petition in the main House of Commons Chamber, if they wish to do so. However, debates on motions of no confidence are fairly rare.

    The petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/104471

    Find out more about the Petitions Committee: https://petition.parliament.uk/help#petitions-committee

    Thanks,
    The Petitions team
    UK Government and Parliament

  9. Jonno R November 19, 2015 at 8:38 am - Reply

    I dream of reading that cameron has been found dead with his todger shoved in the decapitated head of ian Duncan smith.

    If anyone knows how to find an assassin get us a price and let’s see if we can crowd source it. Shouldn’t take long.

    • Mike Sivier November 19, 2015 at 1:10 pm - Reply

      This Blog does not condone violence of any kind – even to Conservatives.

  10. Claire November 19, 2015 at 8:43 am - Reply

    They refused to debate the petition on the grounds that it isn’t something they would normally do.

  11. jonny November 19, 2015 at 8:51 am - Reply

    This has now been dismissed as the petition didnt ask for a specific action and the commons has no power to schedule debates on no confidence…..load of b*****cks

  12. Lell November 19, 2015 at 9:08 am - Reply

    Afraid not, just got an email saying they aren’t going to bother debating this no matter how many signatures they receive.

  13. Julie lloyd November 19, 2015 at 9:18 am - Reply

    Mike, I had a response to my email to my local MP to say that won’t be debating on the petition “vote of no confidence ” because they will only talk about actual policies and they very rarely have a debate on individuals which I presume covers everybody in the government . Hence there and was not a vote to remove Jeremy *unt for that reason as well .

  14. Jon November 19, 2015 at 9:21 am - Reply

    This is the email response after voted no

    The Petitions Committee decided not to debate the petition you signed – “Vote no confidence in David Cameron”

    The House of Commons Petitions Committee has decided not to schedule a debate on this petition, because the Committee does not have the power to schedule debates on motions of no confidence, and the petition does not contain a specific request for action on policy.

    It is usually more effective to start a petition calling for a specific change to government policy or the law, rather than a petition about an individual Minister.

    It is still open to MPs to seek time for a debate on this petition in the main House of Commons Chamber, if they wish to do so. However, debates on motions of no confidence are fairly rare.

  15. Allan November 19, 2015 at 9:34 am - Reply

    They’ve sent an update to say they wont be discussing it ?

  16. aussieeh November 19, 2015 at 9:59 am - Reply

    Just received an Email from Petitions UK Government.
    It reads..

    The Petitions Committee decided not to debate the petition you signed – “Vote no confidence in David Cameron”

    The House of Commons Petitions Committee has decided not to schedule a debate on this petition, because the Committee does not have the power to schedule debates on motions of no confidence, and the petition does not contain a specific request for action on policy.

    It is usually more effective to start a petition calling for a specific change to government policy or the law, rather than a petition about an individual Minister.

    It is still open to MPs to seek time for a debate on this petition in the main House of Commons Chamber, if they wish to do so. However, debates on motions of no confidence are fairly rare.

  17. Leanne November 19, 2015 at 10:12 am - Reply

    I signed this said petition and received an email today:

    The Petitions Committee decided not to debate the petition you signed – “Vote no confidence in David Cameron”

    The House of Commons Petitions Committee has decided not to schedule a debate on this petition, because the Committee does not have the power to schedule debates on motions of no confidence, and the petition does not contain a specific request for action on policy.

    It is usually more effective to start a petition calling for a specific change to government policy or the law, rather than a petition about an individual Minister.

    It is still open to MPs to seek time for a debate on this petition in the main House of Commons Chamber, if they wish to do so. However, debates on motions of no confidence are fairly rare.

    The petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/104471

    Find out more about the Petitions Committee: https://petition.parliament.uk/help#petitions-committee

    Thanks,
    The Petitions team
    UK Government and Parliament

  18. Dez November 19, 2015 at 10:36 am - Reply

    Rather concerning we have valuable civil servants vetting petition voting records. Hopefully this process is repeated on all petitions not just those that have political consequences for the Government. If a name is removed then an email notification should be sent back to the individual that they have been removed and the reason for their disqualification.

  19. Nathan Greenslade November 19, 2015 at 11:23 am - Reply

    Is it possible to check that our names are still on said petition,?(or any petition) if we can prove that not all the names were fake that could provide some nice ammo against them

    • Mike Sivier November 19, 2015 at 12:58 pm - Reply

      I do not know – but we could write to the Petitions committee (individually) and ask.

  20. glubfoot November 19, 2015 at 11:50 am - Reply

    I have just had an email to say the petitions committee has decided not discuss

  21. Brian November 19, 2015 at 12:04 pm - Reply

    If they were intent on refusing to debate the motion, which I’ve just learnt, why bother tampering with the petition names?

    • Mike Sivier November 19, 2015 at 12:57 pm - Reply

      Exactly!

  22. tavascarow November 19, 2015 at 12:46 pm - Reply

    I had my reply to this petition this morning.
    I quote.

    ‘The Petitions Committee decided not to debate the petition you signed – “Vote no confidence in David Cameron”

    The House of Commons Petitions Committee has decided not to schedule a debate on this petition, because the Committee does not have the power to schedule debates on motions of no confidence, and the petition does not contain a specific request for action on policy.

    It is usually more effective to start a petition calling for a specific change to government policy or the law, rather than a petition about an individual Minister.

    It is still open to MPs to seek time for a debate on this petition in the main House of Commons Chamber, if they wish to do so. However, debates on motions of no confidence are fairly rare. ‘

    • Mike Sivier November 19, 2015 at 12:56 pm - Reply

      I’ve had the same reply.
      See my article about it.

  23. Lucky November 19, 2015 at 3:30 pm - Reply

    Totally unjustified how the Petitions Committee removed signatures, that is called tampering with signatures and is completely undemocratic. This does not bode well for the process of voting on “official” Government petitions when they so openly tamper with the numbers…

  24. Carlton Benson -Wood November 19, 2015 at 6:35 pm - Reply

    Its time to contact the European Commission , Some will remember that The Tories were taken through the European Courts many times when Thatcher was Prime Minister
    Following numerous complaints from individuals , We dont hear so much about this in recent years but many government decisions were reversed one I remember was with regards to housing benefit , Whats new?? same old bashing of the poorest members of society

  25. mrmarcpc November 20, 2015 at 4:56 pm - Reply

    Doesn’t surprise me, they’re getting away with everything else, why not this!

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