Strengthen and Protect Petitions to Hold Government to Account

Rejected 9 signatures

What the petition asks

New legislation, protecting stronger petition powers constitutionally, so they gain real democratic force. We suggest petitions of 250k+ signatures should trigger mandatory scrutiny, and petitions with 1m+ signatures should lead to binding public action such as a referendum or equivalent mechanisms.

Public trust is damaged when governments can ignore huge petitions and act without meaningful accountability between elections. Once elected, no government should be free to push through policies the public overwhelmingly oppose. Strengthening petitions through legislation would provide a vital democratic safeguard. Giving 250k+ petitions mandatory scrutiny and 1m+ petitions binding outcomes ensures the public remain an active constitutional check on government power, not spectators to it.

Why it was rejected

It was not clear what the petition asked the UK Government or Parliament to do.

Petitions need to call on the Government or Parliament to take a specific action.

We're not sure exactly what you mean by "mandatory scrutiny".

You could start a new petition explaining clearly what you would like the Government or Parliament to do, or you may wish to sign one of the following similar petitions.

"Give More Power to Public Petitions to Force the Government to take Action"
Give More Power to Public Petitions to Force the Government to take Action

"Reform the petition system: Parliament vote at 1M signatures & referendum at 5M"
Reform the petition system: Parliament vote at 1M signatures & referendum at 5M

"Hold referendum if a petition reaches over 650,000 signatures"
Hold referendum if a petition reaches over 650,000 signatures

Timeline

11 Dec 2025	Petition opened for signatures
21 Jan 2026	Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 9

Status Rejected

Rejected 21 Jan 2026

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