Petition · past parliament

Allow use of Parliamentary footage in political satire and light entertainment

Closed 220 signatures

What the petition asks

Light entertainment and political satire programmes are not currently permitted to show footage from Parliament. This restriction in a democracy seems somewhat backward and should be lifted.
Section 6 of the Licence to use Parliamentary proceedings from the House of Commons for Broadcast dictates that no extracts of Parliamentary proceedings may be used in any light entertainment
programme or in a programme of political satire.

This restriction became apparent to me whilst attempting to watch John Oliver's Last Week Tonight. UK viewers were prevented from seeing a segment of his show due to it containing footage taken from Parliament.

Timeline

18 Jun 2018 Petition opened for signatures
18 Dec 2018 Closed to new signatures

Key facts

Signatures 220
Status Closed
Opened 18 Jun 2018
Closed 18 Dec 2018

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.