Government Petitions

Has anyone noticed that the present government is following in the footsteps of their predecessors with the idea of e-petitions on the internet.

Anyone can propose a petition and if it is accepted by the moderator (first opportunity to ignore the public) it is published and members of the public can sign the petition.

If a government set target of number of signatures is received (second opportunity to ignore us) then the petition is moved forward for consideration by a committee.

If approved by the committee (third opportunity - is a pattern emerging here) then it is given time in the House of Commons.

The House of Commons can then discuss the proposed issue and have the final opportunity to reject it.

How much influence therefore do we really have?

I signed a number of e-petitions under the previous government.  Only one reached its close date before the scheme was quietly dropped.  From the one that did survive I received an email from the Prime Minister's office effectively saying 'thank you for your interest but you are wrong and we are right'  No further debate or action was implemented.  Doubtless my name was added to a list of troublemakers somewhere!

I think the other issue is one of representation - unless you keep an eye on all the e-petitions presented, and I am sure there are many, a petition may go through, say supported by 150,000 people.  This is a small proportion of the voting adults in this country.  If there is a strong feeling against the petition the only way to express this is to launch a counter petition at about the same time so that when both close it is possible for the powers that be to balance both sides of the equation.

Perhaps a better idea would be an e-referendum whereby anyone can sign for OR against the topic proposed.

All in all I think this is flawed and does not allow the public to properly make their feelings known to the government of the day.  It is just another crumb to make us think that we are being listened to.