A matter of perspective

Just over five years ago, Parliament considered a 6,103,056 signature petition that called on the government to revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU. The petition said that the government repeatedly claims exiting the EU is 'the will of the people'. We need to put a stop to this claim by proving the strength of public support now, for remaining in the EU. A People's Vote may not happen - so vote now.

This movement attracted much derision from the Tories, those fly-by-night charlatans who now form the bulk of Reform and the right-wing media, all of whom argued that the country had spoken and to reopen the debate again would be undemocratic. And yet these very same people appear to have had a change of heart, it seems that they no longer believe that a democratic election should be the final word.

The Independent reports on the now two million strong petition calling for another General Election just five months after the last one, an election that produced a landslide Labour majority, albeit within a flawed electoral system.

The paper says that the petition comes amid growing backlash over Labour’s budget, which has sparked controversy for hikes to national insurance and extension of inheritance tax to include farms, among other unpopular proposals which aim to fill the spending black hole.

And there amongst the usual suspects of those initiating this petition is the billionaire Trump-ally Elon Musk, who has repeatedly criticised Sir Keir Starmer since he came to power. So much for his outrage at Labour interfering in the US presidential election. But who exactly is signing this petition? The paper has carried out an analysis:

The petition was only set up on November 20, but has already received over 2,184,000 signatures at the time of writing.

The majority of signatories to the petition are concentrated in Conservatives or Reform safe seats.

Many of the names in these seats may seem familiar, as vocal critics of the current Labour government. The MPs in constituencies where the petitions have received the most signatures include leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch, former leadership hopeful James Cleverly, and topping the list, Alex Burghart.

The petition is highly popular among constituents of Reform leaders Richard Tice and Nigel Farage, with 9,550 signatures between the two constituencies.

However, over a million signatures have come from constituencies with a Labour MP.

The Labour MP representing the most constituents calling for a general election is Kevin McKenna, with 4,609 constituents signing the petition.

Mr McKenna won his constituency of Sittingbourne and Sheppey by just 355 votes in July.

The constituency had a low voter turnout of just 51.9 per cent and was historically Conservative.

It is likely that his narrow win made many residents unhappy in an area with high Tory support; but even so, it is unclear whether those signing the petition would be able to oust Mr McKenna in another election.

However, this discontent may still cause some concern for Labour MPs with small majorities. In the Derbyshire Dales, Labour MP John Whitby won by 350 votes, and over 4,426 of his constituents have signed the petition to call an election. MPs in Ribble Valley, Middlesborough South, and Redditch face a similar dilemma.

A high number of constituents in South Norfolk have also signed the petition in South Norfolk, where Terry Jermy is the Labour MP.

Mr Jermy has faced recent pressure following the farmers protests, as his constituency is being eyed by the Tories and has 408 farm holdings.

Even some constituents of Labour leaders have signed the petition calling for a new election, with over 3,000 signatures in Deputy PM Angela Rayner’s seat.

At least 14,276 of the signatures were from people based outside the United Kingdom, according to self-declared locations required in the petition forms.

Thousands of signatures came from the United States, Spain, France and Australia.

The petition has also received hundreds of signatures from Thailand, UAE and Cyprus.

There are even five signatures reported from the Vatican City, where the Pope resides.

Only British citizens and UK residents are allowed to sign this type of petition to be considered by Parliament.

However, the rapid scale of the petition may make it more difficult to verify the identities of the two million-plus signatories. The Independent has reached out to the government to confirm how many of the signatures are verified.

This is not helped by non-citizens such as billionaire Elon Musk promoting the petition, saying on X that “the people of Britain have had enough of a tyrannical police state”.

I would argue that the lies and misrepresentation put about by Brexiteers in 2016, together with the many unexpected developments and dificulties in delivering the exit from the EU made the case for a second plebiscite a compelling one. Leaving the EU is final, with no second chance and is unlikely to be undone for generations, if at all.

In contrast, Keir Starmer's government has to face another general election is due course, when people will be able to judge for themselves whether Labour has been faithful to their promises and vote accordingly. The case for another contest so soon is entirely a partisan one, being made for political advantage, and has little to do with the best interests of the country.

I suppose it's all a matter of persepective.