Fleur Anderson MP Calls for General Election in Parliament
Online petition in favour reaches three quarters of a million signatures
Fleur Anderson listing all the things that no one has voted for
Fleur Anderson has participated in a parliamentary debate on a petition calling for a general election saying that the current government and its policies lacks mandate.
The petition is just short of three quarters of a million signatures at the time of writing and Ms Anderson says that as of noon this Friday (21 October), 1,266 of her constituents have signed it. The number of people supporting it has grown at an accelerated rate since the resignation this week of the Prime Minister Liz Truss. Over 600,000 people have signed it in the last three weeks. The petition lists the war in Ukraine, problems with the Northern Ireland Protocol, a looming recession and calls for Scottish independence as ‘the greatest set of challenges we have seen in our lifetime’.
The three largest opposition parties in Westminster – Labour, the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats – are now all calling for a general election in response to the economic problems caused by the mini-budget and now another change in the leadership of the Conservative Party.
It is thought very unlikely at this stage that the government would agree to call an election due to the current performance of the Conservative Party in the polls.
Fleur Anderson said in the Commons, “The Conservatives have lost the trust of people and the mandate for their policies. This is a mess created in Downing Street and paid for by ordinary people whose mortgages are going up by an average of £500 a month – often more in Putney – and still facing rising food and fuel bills. No one voted for bankers’ bonuses, for making worker’s rights worse, for taking away environmental protections, for fracking or for continuing Brexit chaos – it wasn’t in the Conservative manifesto.
“People want and need stability, not more economic chaos. They want a say in who leads our country at this difficult time. No more failing Conservative leaders. Labour is ready for government.’
No one voted for this. The Prime Minister doesn’t have a mandate. For the good of the nation we need a General Election.
— Fleur Anderson MP (@PutneyFleur) October 18, 2022
My speech in support of the petition - now signed by 637,000 - calling for a #GeneralElectionNow .@AngelaRayner @CatMcKinnell @PeterStefanovi2 @darrinac pic.twitter.com/uXEsUjabJD
The government responded to the petition before the recent resignation of the Prime Minister saying, “The United Kingdom is a Parliamentary democracy, not a Presidential one. Following the general election of December 2019, Members of Parliament of the governing party (the Conservative Party) were elected, such that there is a majority in the House of Commons. This remains the case. A change in the leader of the governing party does not trigger a general election – this has been the case under governments of successive political colours.”
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October 28, 2022
