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Petition · past parliament

Proroguing Parliament should require a vote by MPs

Closed 308 signatures

What the petition asks

Dissolving Parliament early to call an election now requires a vote by MPs, but a Prime Minister only needs to speak to the monarch to end a Parliamentary session whenever they want and set when the next one will begin. This should also require a vote by MPs.
The current rules on the timing of Parliamentary sessions are antiquated and open to abuse. In the last decade, sessions of Parliament have been extended twice by cancelling a Queen's Speech (in 2011 and 2018), and now in 2019 Parliament is being closed for an extended period, preventing Parliamentary scrutiny of a minority government and a PM who has not been elected by the whole country. This must not be allowed to happen again. Any change to the annual state opening of Parliament should require a vote by MPs to approve it.

Timeline

6 Sep 2019 Petition opened for signatures
6 Nov 2019 Closed to new signatures

Key facts

Signatures 308
Status Closed
Opened 6 Sep 2019
Closed 6 Nov 2019

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