100,000 signatures - Commons debate?

[Joe9T]

Under the Conservative government, 100,000 signatures on a petition would be enough to guarantee a debate in the House of Commons. A million signatures would give the organisers the right to put legislation in front of the Commons which MPs would have to vote on.

 

EDIT: So, that would equate to 0.16% of the UK population of 60 Million.

 

Now, if a petition was started solely for a specific area, say Sheffield, which has a population of around 535,000, and that petition gained 0.16% signatures of that population, would that be enough to guarantee a debate in the House of Commons? So long as all the signatures were from within the said population?

[rickiethecat]

The Uk population is closer to 60 than 6 million. And what point are you trying to make?

[Joe9T]

sorry , i have my calculations wrong , ill update them

 

UPDATED!

[Joe9T]

The Uk population is closer to 60 than 6 million. And what point are you trying to make?

 

If i started a petition solely for the city of Sheffield, which has a population of around 535,000, then 0.16% of that population would equate to 891 signatures required to gain a Commons debate. It would be exactly the same as 100,000 signatures gained for a popution of 60 million!!!

[Joe9T]

And so long as all the signatures were gained from the 535,000 population only, and none frome elsewhere outside that specific population.

[rickiethecat]

And so long as all the signatures were gained from the 535,000 population only, and none frome elsewhere outside that specific population.

 

How would you know? If someone signs an epetition they could be using an internet connection anywhere in the world.

[Joe9T]

How would you know? If someone signs an epetition they could be using an internet connection anywhere in the world.

 

I wouldn't do an e-petition. I would do something like a "street" petition, where those signing would also give their address area.

[mj.scuba]

If i started a petition solely for the city of Sheffield, which has a population of around 535,000, then 0.16% of that population would equate to 891 signatures required to gain a Commons debate. It would be exactly the same as 100,000 signatures gained for a popution of 60 million!!!

 

Wouldn't that situation warrant a debate in council chambers as an equivelant, rather than the House of Commons?

[Joe9T]

Wouldn't that situation warrant a debate in council chambers as an equivelant, rather than the House of Commons?

 

Wel, ok, that would be suffice. I think it should, but would it? Would the Council debate, if a petiiton gained the same percentage in their Council run area, as the House of Commons would debate if 100'000 signatures were gained for the whole of the UK population?

[esme]

ok so you have an epetition and you get 100,000 signatures, what happens next ?

 

well the subject of the epetition would be added to the list of debates for the house of commons and eventually it would bubble to the top

 

there is absolutely nothing to say that MP's have to attend this debate

 

and even if they do turn up there is absolutely nothing that says anyone has to say anything

 

if it's something MP's don't want to discuss, or are perfectly happy with, then you will have several seconds of stony silence before the speaker moves on to the next order of business, the petition will then be consigned to history and the debate will be over

 

suppose you get 1,000,000 signatures and actually get to put legislation in front of the house and they have to vote on it

 

there is absolutely nothing to say they will vote in favour of it

 

the situation is this, the only time your opinion matters is during the time that parliament has dissolved and your vote is required in a general election

 

in that period politicians will promise you the moon in order to get your vote

 

once your vote has been cast, you are of no further interest except as a source of taxation to pay for the running of the country, your opinion does not matter until the next election, any promises made to secure your vote may or may not be honoured but if they are not, then you have no recourse

 

once you have cast your vote and a government is formed then there is absolutely nothing you can do to influence the running of the country

 

you can write to your MP if you wish but they are not required to listen to you, they are certainly not required to obey you

 

generally an MP will follow the instruction of the party whip because if they don't the party can have them demoted to a position of no influence, as I believe happened in the EU referendum vote, and then possibly removed from the party at the next election

 

if the party whip does not give any orders they are free to follow their own conscience

 

and then a long way down the list comes the wishes of their constituents

 

but generally they will not do anything that will upset the leadership of their own party for fear of the reprisals

 

so we have epetitions, so we can get a debate or even have our own legislation voted on

 

the party or coalition that has formed the government will still do precisely what it wants

 

and there is nothing we can do about it until the next election and even then it's a case of swapping one set of people who will do what they want and not listen to us for another set of people who will do what they want and not listen to us