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More than 700,000 sign petition calling for immediate general election to ‘end the chaos’

The petition is calling on the government to "let the people decide who leads us through this turmoil".

Emily Sergeant - 21st October 2022

More than 700,000 people and counting have put their names to a petition calling for a general election to be held immediately in a bid to “end the chaos”.

The petition in question – which has been set up on the official parliament.uk petitions platform – comes after Liz Truss stepped down from her role as leader of the Conservative Party yesterday in what was a history-making move, and officially made her the shortest-serving Prime Minister in the history of the UK after only being in office for just 44 days.

During Truss‘s 44 days as leader, following a takeover from outgoing PM Boris Johnson on 5 September 2022, her time in offer was turbulent – to say the least.

She was elected during an ongoing cost of living crisis and an energy supply crisis, in which her government – and the former Chancellor she sacked six days before her resignation, Kwasi Kwarteng – implemented an Energy Price Guarantee that limited energy prices for households, businesses, and public sector organisations.

Her government also announced large-scale borrowing and various tax cuts in a mini-budget unveiled on 23 September – which was poorly received, and the subject of major backlash from all sides, and went on to cause economic chaos and see the value of the pound plummet.

Truss’s time in office also saw the death and state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, which means 10 whole days of her leadership were spent in a period of unprecedented national mourning.

So perhaps turbulent is putting it likely?

With all of that drama unfolding in just 44 days, on top of everything that has already happened in the world of politics this year, it’s probably not that surprising to learn of the fact that a petition calling for a general election to be held immediately has gone on to become one of the most popular petitions to ever to appear on parliament.uk.

The petition wants to “to end the chaos of the current government”.

“Call an immediate general election so that the people can decide who should lead us through the unprecedented crises threatening the UK,” the petition’s call-to-action reads.

“The chaos engulfing the UK government is unprecedented. Over 40 ministers resigned leaving departments without leadership during cost of living, energy and climate crises. War rages in Ukraine, the Northern Ireland Protocol has further damaged our relationship with Europe, recession looms; the UK itself may cease to exist as Scotland seeks independence.

“This is the greatest set of challenges we have seen in our lifetimes.”

Ultimately, the creator of the petition is calling on the government to “let the people decide who leads us through this turmoil” – and dozens of people every minute appear to agree with this.

Given that the petition already has more than 732,000 signatures and is rapidly gaining more every minute, it’s expected that it could hit the one million mark some time in the near future – which is a feat not many public petitions achieve.

Addressing the popularity of the petition, a government spokesperson said in response: “The UK is a Parliamentary democracy and the Conservative Party remains the majority party. The Prime Minister has pledged to ensure opportunity and prosperity for all people and future generations, and a change in the leader of the governing party does not trigger a general election.

Read more:

• Liz Truss has resigned as Prime Minister after only six weeks in the job
• Krishnan Guru-Murthy apologises after calling Tory MP a ‘c***’ on livestream
• 44 things that lasted longer than Liz Truss’s 44 days as Prime Minister

“This has been the case under governments of successive political colours… and remains the case.”

Will we ever get a general election though? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Featured Image – gov.uk