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.
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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?
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Liz Truss resigned as leader of the Conservative Party and stepped down as PM on 20 October 2022 / Credit: 10 Downing Street
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.
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“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.”
More than 700,000 have signed a petition calling for immediate general election / Credit: Conservative Party | Labour Party
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.
“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
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‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Benson Boone has announced a headline gig in Manchester – and it’s a big one
Danny Jones
American pop sensation and unrivalled king of unnecessary front flips, Benson Boone, has just announced his first-ever headline Manchester arena gig as part of a new arena tour.
The solo artist and acrobatic chart-topper has seen a meteoric rise in the US and, as is usually the case across the Atlantic, he’s become increasingly popular over here too.
Benson may have performed here in Manchester before as part of the 2024 MTV EMAs and for a small show at The Deaf Institute, but now big fans have the added Boone of getting to watch a standalone show at one of Europe’s leading indoor entertainment venues.
Announced on Friday, 30 May, the 22-year-old will be making his way across the pond from Washington for a limited run of UK concerts, with a date at Co-op Live arena being one of just five dates.
Extending his ‘American Heart Tour’ ahead of the release of his eponymous sophomore record, with this autumn leg, Co-op Live will mark his individual visit to 0161.
The Grammy-nominated artist has earned several nods of recognition already for his first album, Fireworks & Rollerblades, which was released just last spring.
He has been described as among the current trend of male singers who fit into the American Idol and ‘Voice audition pop’ genre (a term recently coined online), along with the likes of Teddy Swims, Shawn Mendes, Alex Warren and others.
Regardless of the slightly tongue-in-cheek term, he’s become a huge hit around the world and landing him is still a big coup for the venue that has already welcomed similarly massive pop contemporaries like Swims, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and more.
In case you’re wondering just how big a deal he is over in the States, even this early in his career, his domestic headline dates sold out in seconds, quite literally…
The last time he visited Co-op Live was to perform at the most recent MTV EMAs
Benson Boone is coming to Manchester on Monday, 27 October and will be playing just two other British venues: The O2 in London (two nights) and the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
Safe to say you don’t want to miss this one if you like soaring vocals and lots of flipping.
General admission tickets go live at 10am on Thursday, 5 June, but Co-op Members can gain access via the arena’s official pre-sale window from the same time on Tuesday (3 Jun).
Emily Sergeant -
21st October 2022 
