Hold a referendum on specific parameters of independence of Bank of England

Rejected 16 signatures

What the petition asks

Now that we know that the democratically elected UK government is powerless to act on banknote design, in particular the replacement of Churchill with a bird, the public should vote on actions of unelected BoE via the means of a referendum, which Parliament and Government have authority to call.

Much of the British public would prefer to keep the image of Winston Churchill on the banknotes. However, petitions have been rejected on the pretext of independent BoE’s authority over banknote design. BoE claims to have consulted a panel of experts, but this is not democratic as we cannot vote BoE or its experts out. We should therefore go to the ultimate democratic exercise and consider BoE jurisdiction, and unelected quangos which run much of the UK in general, in a national referendum.

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 UK Parliament to take a specific action.

We cannot accept your petition as we're not sure exactly what you'd like the Government or Parliament to do, and what you mean by the "parameters" of independence of the Bank of England.

You could start a new petition clearly calling for a referendum on the independence of the Bank of England, or for the Government to amend the legislation that sets out the powers of the BoE.

Timeline

8 Jun 2026	Petition opened for signatures
7 Jul 2026	Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 16

Status Rejected

Rejected 7 Jul 2026

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