Government E-Petitions

 

Here is the government's list of petitions on the site they put up asking us to suggest things that should be debated in Parliament if they get over 100,000 votes. This is in order of the number of votes cast. There is no promise to carry out any of them, that would be bypassing the role of Parliament. It doesn't even guarantee that they will get a full formal debate, if there is a very good reason, but Parliament has to say why if any of them are refused.

However there clearly is considerable pressure to have a debate where it has been asked for and most politicians would tend to support something that was the obvious public will (or at least pretend to do so). I think this may turn out to be a very useful reform - much more useful than the Cabinet thought when they offered it.

The size of votes are, so far, not overwhelming, and individual voting clearly can help push it up the listing bringing a cascade effect - the difference between the one at the bottom of the 1st page and the one starting the 2nd page is only 167 votes. One can also see that the #2has been reached by a campaign among a relatively limited number of people (football fans inn Liverpool).

Here are the first 2 pages. I strongly suggest you make use of this. Like voting in elections, it may not change much but it is the most power we can exercise and if we refuse to do what we can we can have no complaint about not being able to do more.I have noted the ones I support and why. I hope most of you will agree with most of them but would be worried if everybody agreed with them all.

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Convicted London rioters should loose all benefits. View 219,765 09/02/2012
Full disclosure of all government documents relating to 1989 Hillsborough disaster View 132,408 09/08/2012

CHEAPER PETROL AND DIESEL, BY ROBERT HALFON MP AND FAIRFUEL UK View 63,478 05/08/2012 Not without problems but fuel costs are a major barrier to a successful economy.

Make financial education a compulsory part of the school curriculum View 49,438 12/02/2012 a remarkably sensible idea. It would be distorted by teachers but even so the basics of the supply and demand curves are so simple and the statistical evidence that freer economies grow better than more controlled ones so clear that it would be almost impossible to totally censor that while teaching. If these were widely understood an awful lot of politician's and Beeboid's inanities would by unmaintainable.

Petition to retain the ban on Capital Punishment View 25,350 04/02/2012

Public & Private Pension Increases - change from RPI to CPI View 22,773 08/05/2012

Britain wants referendum to leave EU View 22,435 04/08/2012 As per Dave's "cast iron" promise. It was also a LudDim promise

Keep Formula 1 Free To Air in the UK View 21,969 04/08/2012

Restore Capital Punishment View 17,499 04/02/2012 I think it deters, in which case it is moral cowardice to refuse it.

Increase policing DONT CUT IT View 10,667 09/02/2012
all rioters convicted should lose their benefits, and if not a british citizen, be deported View 9,522 10/02/2012
Petition In Support of Public Libraries View 7,136 05/02/2012

Legalise cannabis View 6,609 04/08/2012 The damage done by it being criminal and thus funding criminality is clearly greater than any harm the drug causes.

Teach evolution, not creationism View 6,224 12/08/2012
Put Babar Ahmad on trial in the UK View 6,000 10/11/2011
Cashless Scrap Metal Trade - Amendment to Scrap Metal Merchants Act 1964 View 5,924 08/08/2012
Thameslink Protest View 5,123 04/08/2012
The Government should ban the EDL View 5,100 08/11/2011
Remove the ban on gay blood donation View 4,922 04/08/2012
Absolute right to self-defence within ones home View 4,850 04/02/2012
petition against EU Anti-tampering proposed legislation for motorcycles View 4,691 08/11/2011
Hold a referendum on withdrawing from the EU View 4,443 04/08/2012

End mass immigration View 4,237 04/08/2012 If the trend continues the native descended population will be a minority within decades. People aren't just interchangeable cogs and Britain will not exist as more than a geographical expression if that happens.

Restore a rolling 30 year-old exemption to VED, for classic vehicles View 4,177 05/08/2012

withdraw from the european human rights act View 4,164 04/08/2012 It is a mess of platitudes

Ban the introduction of Sharia Law in the United Kingdom View 4,032 04/02/2012
Bring back the death penalty View 3,714 04/11/2011
Do NOT remove all the benefits of convicted London rioters. View 3,507 09/02/2012
Don't let disabled children pay the price for welfare reform: reverse unfair plans to cut support by up to £27 per week for 100,000 disabled children View 3,218 05/08/2012
Return of Hanging for Serious Crimes View 2,884 04/08/2012
Re Nationalise Railways View 2,855 04/08/2012
Stop HS2 View 2,746 04/08/2012
Creation of an English Parliament View 2,657 04/08/2012
Support an Independent Kurdish State View 2,365 04/08/2012
Stop giving aid to India View 2,123 05/08/2012
Proscribe the English Defence League (EDL) View 2,122 09/08/2012
Leave the European Union View 2,087 05/08/2012
Save OUR Maternity Services at Fairfield General Hospital, Bury View 1,995 10/11/2011
Legalise Gay Marriage View 1,973 05/08/2012
Recruit 5000 more NHS midwives in England View 1,927 22/08/2012

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There is a fair bit of repetition, and I have not voted twice for them. It is remarkable how liberal, in the original sense the results are - the BBC initially came out against this on the grounds that the common people would all vote for hanging but in fact, though I disagree with it, the motion against hanging is more popular. I'm not necessarily opposed to all the ones I didn't vote for but either know nothing or consider them unimportant.

http://a-place-to-stand.blogspot.com/2011/08/government-e-petitions.html