How do online petitions work? What happens at 1 million signatures - will a general election be called

• Online petitions can attract huge numbers of signatures.
• Rules are in place for how the government should respond after certain thresholds.
• But have any popular petitions actually been successful?

A petition that is calling on the government to call a general election has been signed nearly two millions times. The online appeal was launched last week and has trended on social media sites like X (formerly Twitter).

Started by a person called Michael Westwood, the petition reads: “I would like there to be another General Election. I believe the current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election.”

The petition has been signed by more than 1.8 million people as of 7am on Monday November 25. But what does that actually mean - and have any petitions been successful?

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How do online petitions work?

The ability for Brits to send petitions to Parliament actually have a surprisingly long history. The website for Erskine May, often referred to as ‘the Bible of parliamentary procedure’, explains: “The rights of petitioners and the power of the House to deal with petitions were expressed in two resolutions of the Commons in 1669.”

But following the dawn of the internet age (and the 21st century), the government started to look at ways to do petitions online. The first version was launched in 2006 under the premiership of Tony Blair - and was originally hosted on the Downing Street website.

The version of the website that you probably are most familiar with (Petition.Parliament.UK) launched in 2011. If a petition gets 10,000 signatures, the government has to respond, and if it gets over 100,000 then it has to be considered for a debate.

Who can make an online petition?

On the petition’s website it explains that only British and UK citizens can start one - simply go to this webpage. After setting up the petition, you need to get five people to support it.

Once this step has been achieved the government website will check your petition and then publish it. The website adds: “We only reject petitions that don’t meet the standards for petitions.”

Only British and UK citizens can sign petitions - and you can only sign it once. The Petitions Committee reviews all petitions it publishes.

What happens if a petition gets over 1 million signatures?

The threshold for a petition to be considered for debate is 100,000 - with the government having to respond if 10,000 people sign it. However there are no requirements for if a petition surpasses 1 million signatures.

Which are the most popular petitions in history?

The call for a general election has been signed over 1.8 million times - as of 7am on Monday November 25 - but it still has a long way to go to match the most signed petitions. A petition calling for Article 50 to be revoked and remain in the EU had over 6.1 million signatures in 2019 - with four million in just 48 hours.

A petition calling for a second EU referendum, not long after the Brexit vote in 2016, was signed over four million times. While a petition

This is not the first time a petition calling for a general election has been launched in recent years. In 2022, one reached just shy of one million signatures but did not result in an election - at that time.

Have any petitions been successful?

The list of most successful petitions (in the online age at least) show plenty with millions of signatures - including the aforementioned calls to revoke article 50 and one calling for Parliament not to be prorouged in 2019. However while they have been considered for debate by the then-governments they have not resulted in direct successful action.

Will there be a general election?

Despite the popularity of the current petition, the chances of a general election taking place remain slim. As I previously mentioned earlier in the article, there was a petition for an election in 2022 - which had nearly one million signatures - but it was not successful at the time.

What do you think of the current petition system? Share your thoughts by emailing me: [email protected].