Petition · past parliament

Make by elections a legally-binding procedure when an MP resigns from a party

Rejected 12 signatures

What the petition asks

MPs are allowed to resign from a party whip without the enforcement of a by election, which means the person in question can become an independent MP, without a public vote, despite acting on another manifesto.

I feel this is a breach of democracy, I therefore commend my petition to the public.
In light of the recent Labour-split, and the seven MPs that have resigned, it is only right that this be put into Law. It is not democratic to become an independent MP without public scrutiny.

To that end, I have put forward this petition, in the hope of not allowing this mistake to happen again.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

Timeline

18 Feb 2019 Petition opened for signatures
22 Feb 2019 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 12
Status Rejected
Rejected 22 Feb 2019

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