Any UK Govt Minister must answer accurately the actual question asked by MPs

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

By not answering accurately the questions that MPs have asked, the UK Government Ministers are able to avoid accountability. This is brining Parliament into disrepute. Therefore, the Government ministers must be made to actually answer the questions asked and not be allowed to idgnore the question.

Parliament is not holding ministers and Government accountable if they are not made to answer questions asked. They can provide answers that are in fact lying by omission. Questions asked must in future shall be answered accurately and in full and Ministers must not omit any information no matter how embarrassing. Certain exemptions to the provision of an answer could be allowed if it concerns UK secrets. However an independent review could be required if an exemption is claimed.

Why it was rejected

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

Ministers are already accountable to the House and are required not to mislead the House (inadvertently or otherwise). We don't quite know whether you want stronger sanctions against Members who are found to have misled the House (even a PM was found to have done so in recent memory).

Perhaps you would like to see a petition like this one below extended to apply not just to PMQs but to all ministerial question times or debates involving ministers?
Introduce standards for answers to PMQs to be enforced by the Speaker

Timeline

12 Mar 2026	Petition opened for signatures
17 Apr 2026	Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21

Status Rejected

Rejected 17 Apr 2026

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