In the latest worrying signal for UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, a petition calling for a general election has received over a million signatures from British voters.
A petition posted to the official website of the UK parliament called for “an immediate general election to be held,” arguing that “We think the majority need and want change.”
The petition, which ended its six-month run this week, garnered 1,059,231 signatures from members of the public, in a significant demonstration of dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Starmer’s left-wing Labour government. And it comes as the Labour government abandons a key policy push to introduce mandatory identity documents after another petition approached three million signatures.
Rejecting the idea of an early election, the Cabinet Office responded: “This Government was elected on a mandate of change.
“Our full focus is on fixing the foundations, rebuilding Britain, and restoring public confidence in government.”
Regardless, the petition will be another troubling sign for Labour as it heads towards critical local elections in May.
While the leftist governing party, with the tacit approval of the neo-liberal Conservatives, has been active in postponing elections, in an apparent bid to prevent the surging Reform UK party of Nigel Farage from racking up more electoral victories as it seeks momentum to challenge for Number 10.
Mr Farage has accused the Labour Party of undermining democracy and of embracing “authoritarian” tactics to remain in power. Nevertheless, the Reform boss has still cast the upcoming May elections as a critical litmus test to prove that his party is ready to dethrone the two Westminster establishment parties.
“They will be the single most important set of elections between now and the next general election. I’ll make this prediction: If Reform win those elections, if we come top, it will put us way ahead of the other parties… If we get this right on May the 7th this year, we will go on and win that general election,” he predicted in his New Year’s address to the nation.
Mr Farage has also predicted that Starmer will be forced to call for an early general election before the next scheduled election in 2029, due to public dissatisfaction and economic turmoil.
The wager appears to be in line with the opinion of the voters, half of whom expect the prime minister to be kicked out of office by the end of this year.
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