An online petition calling for another general election to be held has surpassed 1 million signatures after thousands more signed it every minute.
The call to action was started by small business owner Michael Westwood four days ago. Mr Westwood told the Express he thinks voters feel “betrayed” by Labour and that the “promises that were told” ahead of the July election “looking nothing like” the reality.
Described as the Britain’s fastest-ever growing petition by commentators, the campaign has been backed by a number of political figures including Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who said he had “never seen anything like it” after watching 750,000 signees add their names in just 24 hours.
After the petition reached one million signatures, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice Robert Jenrick said: “One million people express their anger that Labour lied”.
Elon Musk responded to a post on X stating that the petition had “broken the record for the fastest time to reach 100k signatures”, describing it as “interesting”.
Deputy leader of Reform UK Richard Tice also backed the movement, saying: “Let’s make this the biggest petition ever in the UK – sign, share and spread the word.”
The account behind Jeremy Clarkson’s popular TV series Clarkson’s Farm also posted a link to the campaign, and Rupert Lowe MP urged people to: “Register your discontent, register your anger, register your disgust with this Labour government.”
He added that signing the petition would “send Starmer a message”.
The government must respond to petitions that get over 10,000 signatures and those that accrue above 100,000 are considered for debate in parliament.
Mr Westwood, whose previous claim to fame was running Britain’s ‘cheapest pub’, the Wagon and Horses, said: “I think people have had enough, people have seen what’s happened over in America as well, and I think that’s had a knock on effect that, actually, if people stand together and vote then we can make a change.
“It’s about fighting back against all the increases in taxes and the cost of inflation.
“As a small business we’ve got to fight back and try and help the people around us and the community.”
