Just months after Labour’s win, 500,000 call for a General Election
Less than 200 days after this July’s General Election, an online petition has surpassed 500,000 signatures to call another one.
The government is required to respond to all petitions which receive more than 10,000 signatures – and Parliament will consider it for debate if it gets over 100,000.
The creator of the petition, Michael Westwood, kept his plea simple: ‘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.’
And it seems to have garnered large levels of support. In July, Labour set out six key things they planned to do once in office.
They ranged from keeping ‘taxes, inflation and mortgages as low as possible’ to cutting NHS wait times.
Last month, Metro spoke to Labour’s Employment Minister, who defended the government’s major new push for employment rights after it emerged it would not be implemented until 2026.
In an exclusive interview with Metro, Employment Minister Alison McGovern said: ‘There are things in here that I and many other politicians, actually of different parties, have been trying to do for a long time.’
Responding to the criticism, she said the Bill will ‘have a long period in parliament to get through all of those legislative stages’ and that the government would work with bodies including the FSB during the process.
What did Labour promise to do if elected?
Labour laid out six key points they hoped to deliver.
Economy: “Deliver economic stability with tough spending rules, so we can grow our economy and keep taxes, inflation and mortgages as low as possible.”
Healthcare: “Cut NHS waiting times with 40,000 more appointments each week, during evenings and weekends, paid for by cracking down on tax avoidance and non-dom loopholes.”
Borders: “Launch a new Border Security Command with hundreds of new specialist investigators and use counter-terror powers to smash the criminal boat gangs.”
Energy: “Set up Great British Energy, a publicly owned clean power company, to cut bills for good and boost energy security, paid for by a windfall tax on oil and gas giants.”
Crime: “Crack down on antisocial behaviour with more neighbourhood police paid for by ending wasteful contracts, tough new penalties for offenders, and a new network of youth hubs.”
Education: “Recruit 6,500 new teachers in key subjects to prepare children for life, work and the future, paid for by ending tax breaks for private schools.”
Labour has already seen some backlash in their brief time in office, with the most recent being the farmer’s protest in Westminster last week.
During last month’s Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a series of changes which would force family farms worth over £1 million to pay a new 20 per cent levy on their land.
Thousands of farmers took to the streets in Westminster, protesting against it and chanting ‘Keir Starmer the farmer harmer’.
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