Petition · past parliament

Deploy army onto our streets to ensure social distancing.

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

The coronavirus is spreading like wildfire and it appears many of the public are not taking it seriously enough. I really feel now it is time to deploy the army onto our streets to ensure public are adhering to the new rules and regulations.
There are many images on Facebook and over the news of people continuing to gather and socialise together and not taking the advice given by the government seriously. Therefore putting more lives at risk and more strain on the nhs. We need to act now. More power needs to be put in place to ensure people are only going out for necessities and follow the new rules set out by the government. I believe the only way to do this is to put our army on the streets to help protect us all.

Why it was rejected

It asked for something that is not the responsibility of the UK Government or Parliament.

Maintaining public order is the responsibility of the police, not the military. The Government has said that the Ministry of Defence is working with a range of partners across Government, including the National Police Chiefs Council and the Home Office, to understand how it can best support the Government’s response to the outbreak. It would be an operational decision for the police whether to request assistance.

You can find out more here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-support-force-the-mods-contribution-to-the-coronavirus-response

You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:

www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

The Government has also created an online service to help you out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support

You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips

You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here:
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/

You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Find out more and watch the Committee put questions suggested by petitioners to Government Ministers and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/news/145767/committee-question-deputy-chief-medical-officer-and-ministers-on-coronavirus-response/

Read letters asking further questions of Government Ministers: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/publications/3/correspondence/

Timeline

22 Mar 2020 Petition opened for signatures
27 Apr 2020 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21
Status Rejected
Rejected 27 Apr 2020

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