‘Funny, they didn’t seem so impressed with the petition that 6 million of us signed demanding that article 50 should be revoked…’
A petition calling for a general election has dominated the headlines of the right-wing press this week.
‘Humiliation for Keir Starmer…’ splashed the Daily Express.
‘How a general election petition went viral – and racked up millions of signatures: When a pub owner called for another vote, accusing Starmer of going back on his word, it became a lightning rod for a dissatisfied Britain,’ gushed the Telegraph.
‘Now acting legend Michael Caine backs petition demanding fresh election as signatures top 2.2MILION… while Starmer dismisses critics as ‘non-Labour voters’, cried the Daily Mail.
The petition was indeed started by a Conservative voter from the West Midlands, who accuses Labour of breaking its pre-election promises.
However, the petition might not be entirely what it seems, and questions have been raised about its authenticity.
Thousands of signatories were made from outside the UK, with notable numbers from Australia, Spain, the US, and Canada. Even the British Antarctic Territory, which has no permanent population, had nine signatories.
Its global reach is partly due to promotion by high-profile figures, including Elon Musk who shared it to his 205 million X followers.
The Tesla boss is the most followed person the X, ahead of Barack Obama, Christiano Ronaldo, and Justin Bieber. He reportedly ordered the social platform’s algorithms to be changed when he took over X so his own posts could be amplified.
A vocal critic of Stamer, Musk wrote: “The people of Britain have had enough of a tyrannical police state.”
While the petition has been used as ammunition by right-wing political commentators on social media, it was dismissed by Starmer when Kemi Badenoch raised it during PMQs this week. The Tory party leader called on the PM to resign, to which Starmer replied:
“We had a massive petition on the fourth of July in this country.”
Badenoch’s call was quickly labelled as ‘desperate.’
“Kemi Badenoch calling on Keir Starmer to resign and hold an election after just four months in office, after her own party just suffered its worst election defeat in history, feels incredibly desperate,” wrote journalist Adam Bienkov on X.
Others hit back, pointing to earlier petitions that have attracted millions more signatures but have been ignored, most notably, those calling for another EU referendum.
In a Facebook post, Sheffield for Europe said: “Some of the anti-Starmer press have been gloating about the petition calling for another general election, just four months after the last one.
“Funny, they didn’t seem so impressed with the petition that 6 million of us signed demanding that article 50 should be revoked keeping us in the EU following the 2016 referendum on the most significant constitutional change in the governing of this country in a century that was approved by the narrowest of margins and was an advisory referendum only.”
“Call a general election? A 2016 petition calling on the government to have a threshold on the EU referendum got more than FOUR MILLION signatures. A 2019 petition calling on the government to revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU got more than SIX MILLION signatures. Both were ignored,” wrote GET A GRIP.
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That’s why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward’s work.
We still need another 117 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
