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Petition · past parliament · Cabinet Office

MPs resigning or leaving their political party should trigger a by election.

Closed 154 signatures

What the petition asks

When an MP resigns or leaves the political party that they were elected as a member of by their Constituency Voters, a by election should be required in that Constituency, as soon as possible, to give the Constituency Voters a choice of who they want to represent them.
Currently, the situation is that; the Voters elect a Candidate (individual) MP to represent their Constituency in Parliament. However, generally people think that they are voting for a certain Party Representative, not an individual. If that Representative then decides to 'jump ship', or leave that Party for whatever reason, they can join any other Party to represent their Constituency, until the end of the current Parliamentary Term. This is wrong and the law needs to change.

Timeline

11 Mar 2020 Petition opened for signatures
11 Sep 2020 Closed to new signatures

Key facts

Signatures 154
Status Closed
Department Cabinet Office
Opened 11 Mar 2020
Closed 11 Sep 2020

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