MPs clash over ‘childish’ petition calling for snap general election
Deputies discussing the petition, which collected more than a million signatures, clashed over demands for early general elections.
Labor Party leader Anna Turley refrained from holding an urgent vote, saying it “takes time” to deliver on the manifesto’s commitments.
But former Conservative minister John Lamont, who led the debate, said voters felt “completely betrayed” by the government.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has led Labor to a significant 174-seat majority at the 2024 general election, ending 14 years of Conservative rule.
UK Parliament petition, titled Call a General Election Immediately It was closed last month after collecting a total of 1,059,231 signatures.
“We think the majority needs and wants change,” he said.
Speaking at Westminster Hall, Mr Lamont told MPs: “The Labor government has been in power for 18 months and Britain is suffering as a result.
“We have a Prime Minister surrounded by advisors who appear to lack both a clear purpose and a coherent plan for the country.”
Referring to voters and pointing at Labor MPs, he later added: “They feel completely betrayed and you are all responsible.”
But Patrick Hurley, Labor MP for Southport, said “democracy requires more than immediate, reflexive will”.
He said: “If adults behaved in their working lives in the way that this petition calls on Parliament to act on (abdicating responsibility at first sight, demanding a reset when the results do not please them), we would call it irresponsible, we would call it childish.
“We will not give a reward”
Mr. Hurley also warned that the petition “is not a considered proposal for better governance of this country” or “is not accompanied by a constitutional argument that we want to change this place for the better.”
He continued: “This is simply an expression of dissatisfaction with how long it has taken the new government to resolve the problems left behind after 14 years of chaos, division and decline caused by the opposing party.
“There were years of economic stagnation, a referendum of such significant proportions that the country had barely grown its economy since 2016, and a Conservative government more interested in looking after itself than looking after the most vulnerable in this country.”
Conservative former minister Mark Francois appeared to be referring to a 2024 row Sir Keir accepted from Lord Waheed Alli, including multiple glasses worth £2,485.
“At least we get our own glasses,” said Mr. Francois from his seat.
Mr. Hurley replied: “It doesn’t look like it.”
The pair have clashed before over an in-or-out vote in the European Union almost a decade ago, which Mr Hurley described as a “self-destructive referendum” carried out by the Conservatives.
When Mr Francois said more than 17 million voters had chosen Leave – “many more people than voted Labor at the last general election” – Mr Hurley replied: “Those people voted in good faith and people like him lied to them.”
Mr Francois demanded that the Merseyside MP retract his remarks, which he did.
Former Conservative minister Dame Harriett Baldwin, who has been on the green bench since 2010, said she “cannot remember the Petitions Committee having to call so much debate on calling a new general election in another Parliament”.
He referenced an earlier petition that was closed in May 2025 and garnered more (3,084,715) signatures.
When Peter Prinsley, Labor MP for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, claimed the new petition showed “the number of people calling for an election has fallen by two-thirds”, Dame Harriett said she would “encourage” him to “dream”.
Dame Harriett added: “I think the number of people who have signed this petition in that amount of time is probably four million people.”
Speaking on behalf of the Government, Ms Turley said: “We’ll cut energy bills by £150 this year, the living wage has risen by £900 a year, we’ve extended the £3 bus fare, interest rates have been cut six times, we’ve frozen prescription charges to keep costs below £10, we’ve lifted 500,000 children out of poverty for pensioners – that’s an extra 3,000 children in my constituency of Redcar. A trio worth over £1,900 over the course of this Parliament.” We guard the lock.”
He said the government had “set up 750 primary school breakfast clubs to help these children get a healthy start in life”, aiming to “break the cycle of poverty”.
Ms Turley said Conservative MPs “may have enjoyed the chaos and insurrection of the last government”, with three general elections and referendums in four years.
“But the people voted to end the chaos, and they just want us to continue running the country and fix the mess they left behind,” he continued.
“This takes time, this takes patience.”
