What is all the fuss about? This general election petition is just a daft stunt.
Yes, I know it has attracted nearly two-and-a-half million signatures. So what? At the general election on July 4, 19,216,009 people voted against Labour and that party still got elected. That’s how the First Past The Post system works.
In addition, there is no mechanism for calling a general election, just because a tiny minority of the electorate has signed a document like this.
The only such mechanism is a constituency-based recall petition in which, if at least 10 per cent of voters in a constituency sign, their elected MP will lose the seat and a by-election will be held.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
If the signatories to the current ‘general election’ petition tried this, I’m fairly sure they would not be able to persuade enough other voters to push such a petition to the threshold.
So I think this is one of the rare occasions when Keir Starmer has actually been right when addressing the issue. According to the BBC, he said:
“There will be plenty of people who didn’t want us in the first place… my focus is on the decisions that I have to make every day.”
The prime minister argued that he had “inherited a lot of problems” from the previous government and that he had decided to “take the hard decisions first”.
“I’m not surprised, quite frankly, that as we’re doing the tough stuff there are plenty of people who say ‘well I’m impacted, I don’t like it’.”
It seems to This Writer that he has put his finger on the truth of the matter.
It is, of course, entirely possible that Starmer and his version of the Labour Party are doing the wrong thing. This Site criticises him every day – or it seems that way.
But then, the former – Tory – government was definitely doing the wrong thing as well.
The UK’s electoral system means StarmerLabour has five years to convince us that it is doing right by us, before another general election has to be called. Then – if that party has failed – we can vote it out and give someone else a go.
That’s how we do it.
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General election petition is just a daft stunt
What is all the fuss about? This general election petition is just a daft stunt.
Yes, I know it has attracted nearly two-and-a-half million signatures. So what? At the general election on July 4, 19,216,009 people voted against Labour and that party still got elected. That’s how the First Past The Post system works.
In addition, there is no mechanism for calling a general election, just because a tiny minority of the electorate has signed a document like this.
The only such mechanism is a constituency-based recall petition in which, if at least 10 per cent of voters in a constituency sign, their elected MP will lose the seat and a by-election will be held.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
If the signatories to the current ‘general election’ petition tried this, I’m fairly sure they would not be able to persuade enough other voters to push such a petition to the threshold.
So I think this is one of the rare occasions when Keir Starmer has actually been right when addressing the issue. According to the BBC, he said:
It seems to This Writer that he has put his finger on the truth of the matter.
It is, of course, entirely possible that Starmer and his version of the Labour Party are doing the wrong thing. This Site criticises him every day – or it seems that way.
But then, the former – Tory – government was definitely doing the wrong thing as well.
The UK’s electoral system means StarmerLabour has five years to convince us that it is doing right by us, before another general election has to be called. Then – if that party has failed – we can vote it out and give someone else a go.
That’s how we do it.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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