Westminster Hall must host another debate on whether the UK should hold an immediate General Election after a second petition reached a major milestone, Tory and Reform UK MPs have told GB News.
Despite more than 800,000 Britons demanding another nationwide poll, there are growing concerns that parliamentary authorities could refuse to hold a Westminster Hall debate after MPs return from their summer recess.
Following the petition's smashing of the 100,000-signature threshold required to force Parliament to consider holding a discussion, GB News understands the Petitions Committee will consider the petition for a Westminster Hall debate when it holds its next meeting in September.
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However, the Petitions Committee, which is a legislative rather than executive body, is under no obligation to approve holding a debate on any petition and may opt to reject taking the matter to Westminster Hall if the issue has been recently debated by MPs.
MPs debated holding an immediate General Election back in January after a separate petition received more than three million signatures, including 2,298 in Sir Keir Starmer’s own seat of Holborn & St Pancras and 8,162 in Nigel Farage’s coastal constituency of Clacton.
Westminster Hall hosted a 150-minute debate on January 6, with Mr Farage locking horns with Labour MP Dawn Butler over Sir Keir’s claims about inheriting a £22billion blackhole from the previous Tory Government.
However, a set of MPs from both Reform UK and the Conservative Party have now decided to put pressure on the Petitions Committee to hold a second Westminster Hall debate.
Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin, who was unable to participate in the first debate as it took place five months before her by-election victory in Runcorn & Helsby in May, hit out at the Government's official response to the second petition.
She told GB News: "It's no wonder so many people are demanding a General Election when this Labour Government continues taking appalling actions.
"Their decision to cancel Local Elections, now coupled with their disregard for a petition signed by nearly a million citizens, suggests a troubling pattern of ignoring the electorate."
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Tory and Reform UK MPs have demanded Sir Keir Starmer hold a debate on a second General Election
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She added: "Labour refusing to address the country’s cry for change shown through demonstrations across the country is yet another failure to take the voices of the British public seriously.
"This Government does not operate for the good of democratic governance, but for their own hypocritical agenda."
Shadow Armed Forces Minister Mark Francois, who spoke in the first debate on the petition months ago, also told GB News: "The fact this petition has continued to attract thousands more names, even months after it was officially debated, shows how the clamour for Labour to face the electorate is growing, not falling.
"With a Labour Government with a public disapproval rating of 68 per cent, it’s no wonder people want to boot this lot out of office, first chance they get."
Meanwhile, ex-Culture Secretary Sir John Whittingdale suggested the parliamentary authorities would soon confirm a second Westminster Hall debate but reiterated that MPs must have the opportunity to discuss public grievances in September.
Sir John, who voiced his concerns in the first debate and represents the seat of Maldon, where more than 2,200 constituents signed the second petition, said: "There is, of course, no possibility of a General Election unless the Prime Minister calls one or the Government is defeated in the House of Commons.
"However, Parliament has said that petitions achieving 100,000 signatures should be debated and given that this is way over that.
"I would expect there to be debate when Parliament returns. The scheduling can take some time but it definitely should happen."
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Sir John Whittingdale, Sarah Pochin and Mark Francois spoke to GB News about the petition | PACalls for a second Westminster Hall debate come just one week after the Government rejected public calls for the British people to go to the polls for their sixth General Election in 15 years.
In a 258-word statement, the Cabinet Office stressed that the Prime Minister can call a General Election by "requesting a dissolution of Parliament from the Sovereign", adding: "This Government is fixing the foundations and delivering change."
The first petition demanding Sir Keir hold a General Election, which ended on May 20, received more than three million signatures, giving it more weight than the total number of votes cast for the Green Party, Scottish National Party, Sinn Fein and Plaid Cymru combined.
Speaking at the time, the Prime Minister admitted he was "not that surprised" that some people who did not vote Labour in the 2024 General Election wanted a "re-run" of the poll.
The second petition, which was dismissed last week by the Cabinet Office, has so far amassed more signatures than the SNP received in votes.
While MPs from Reform UK and the Conservative Party want a second opportunity to debate the General Election petition, the Petitions Committee will also consider whether at least two other petitions should proceed to Westminster Hall when MPs return from their summer recess.
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Westminster Hall hosted a 150-minute debate back in January
|PARLIAMENT TV
The Petitions Committee, which is headed by Liberal Democrat MP Jamie Stone and contains seven Labour MPs in its 11-strong membership, is also expected to consider petitions calling for an end to financial support for asylum seekers and the mandatory collection of child sex offender data.
However, even if MPs are granted the opportunity to debate the second General Election petition, it is highly unlikely that Britons will go to the polls anytime soon.
Under the now-repealed Fixed Term Parliaments Act, the Prime Minister needed to pass a vote to hold a national poll.
The Dissolution & Calling of Parliament Act restored the Prime Minister’s ability to call a General Election via the Royal Prerogative.
A no-confidence motion could theoretically force a General Election, although the composition of the Commons makes such a scenario incredibly unlikely.
Despite his super majority in Parliament, Starmer came close to a shock parliamentary defeat last month
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The last time a Prime Minister was defeated in a confidence vote came in 1979, when James Callaghan lost by one vote ahead of Margaret Thatcher's first General Election victory.
There have only been two other confidence votes lost by the Government in the House of Commons over the course of the 20th century, with Stanley Baldwin and Ramsay MacDonald both suffering defeats in 1924.
Both Boris Johnson and Theresa May more recently avoided being added to the Commons humiliation list by seeing off no-confidence votes by majorities of 109 and 19, respectively.
Meanwhile, Starmer entered No10 off the back of a huge landslide, giving the Prime Minister a so-called super-majority in the Commons.
However, Starmer came close to facing his first shock parliamentary defeat last month after rebels plotted to revolt over his now-axed proposals to slash £5billion from Britain's ballooning benefits bill.