REVEALED: How the upcoming debate on the election petition is designed to protect Starmer from humiliation
The planned date for a debate on the online petition demanding another General Election is a cynical ploy to stop MPs from looking “churlish” while enabling Sir Keir Starmer to save face, Britain’s favourite elections guru claims.
Sir Professor John Curtice’s analysis comes after a pub landlord’s online petition calling for another General Election went viral.
Michael Hestwood initially shared it via WhatsApp with family and friends, but it soon snowballed after getting shared on X and other social media platforms.
It turns out his disillusionment is widely felt: the petition now has 2,901,630 signatures.
Due to a constitutional amendment introduced by the last Conservative Government, the power to call a general election ultimately lies with the Prime Minister.
Starmer has already signalled that he’s ruling out an early election and will crack on with business as usual.
However, since the petition passed 100,000 signatures, it was considered for debate in Parliament, and MPs duly decided it merited thrashing out.
The Petitions Committee have scheduled the debate to go ahead in Westminster Hall on January 6.
Critics of Starmer will feel vindicated by this decision.
His premiership has been rocked by allegations of “two-tier policing”, freebies and unpopular fiscal policies, such as the inheritance tax on farmers and winter fuel payments.
However, those baying for Starmer’s blood should brace themselves for disappointment: the debate will be a performative gesture at best, claims Sir Professor John Curtice.
He told GB News: “I think the reason why the debate’s going ahead is the following: given so many people had voted in favour, or had signed the petition, it would have looked rather churlish if they didn’t hold the debate.”
As he explains, the debate is held by the Petitions Committee – not the government – so it would make the process seem pointless if it didn’t go ahead.
As Curtice points out, the two previous times MPs had held a debate following an online petition was over Brexit and these debates “didn’t have an impact, which shows that you can sign these things, but they don’t necessarily change the course of history”.
MPs will also be licking their wounds from the flack they received for appearing to thwart the will of the people, he said.
There’s also a more cynical reason the debate is being held in early January, Curtice suggests.
“The Petitions Committee popped it in early in the new year when hopefully half of GB News will still be on holiday, and nobody will take too much notice of it. I think it’s on a Monday when it can take a while for MPs, particularly after the new year, to find their way back out to Westminster.”
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When asked if he thinks that this is a purely performative gesture, the elections guru replied: “It absolutely is.”
However, a recent investigation by GB News suggests Starmer’s woes are not going away anytime soon.
Most of the petition’s signatories are concentrated in Reform UK or Conservative Party safe seats.
However, some of the highest concentrations can be found in constituencies where Labour MPs hold razor-thin majorities, the Petition Map shows.
This suggests Starmer could be in for a nasty shock in by-elections ahead of the next General Election.