Petition · past parliament
Make it illegal for the PM to not answer questions during PMQ.
Rejected
20 signatures
What the petition asks
The weekly PMQ session in parliament is a prime time for the nation to learn the PM's views on a wide range of subjects. Yet when the PM ignores questions posed, instead using the time to launch cheap political attacks, democracy suffers. Make it illegal to evade questions at PMQ.
Why it was rejected
It was not clear what the petition asked the UK Government or Parliament to do.
We can't accept your petition in its current form as it does not call for a clear action from the UK Parliament and Government. For example, your petition doesn't specify who should decide whether the Prime Minister has given an acceptable answer to a question, or how an acceptable answer would be defined.
In any case, the rules of the House of Commons are not usually set out in law. You could start a new petition calling for the rules of the House to be changed, to give an individual or body the power to intervene if an answer to a parliamentary question does not meet an agreed standard. For example, in the past we have accepted a petition calling for the Speaker to have this power:
Let the Speaker make Ministers answer questions that they have not answered.
In any case, the rules of the House of Commons are not usually set out in law. You could start a new petition calling for the rules of the House to be changed, to give an individual or body the power to intervene if an answer to a parliamentary question does not meet an agreed standard. For example, in the past we have accepted a petition calling for the Speaker to have this power:
Let the Speaker make Ministers answer questions that they have not answered.
Timeline
| 19 Oct 2016 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 26 Oct 2016 | Rejected by the Petitions Committee |
Key facts
Signatures
20
Status
Rejected
Rejected
26 Oct 2016
Follow this petition
Sign in to get an email when the government responds, a debate is scheduled or held, or the petition closes.
Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.