General Election petition gathers more than 600,000 signatures

A petition demanding a General Election has collected over 600,000 signatures.

Just 143 days after Labour secured victory in the General Election on July 4, the party is now under fire for various policies, including the elimination of the Winter Fuel Payment and a new inheritance tax affecting farmers. This criticism has led to a protest in Westminster earlier this week.

The petition was initiated by Michael Westwood on October 31, simply one day after the Budget announcement. It demands a “new General Election.”

The petition states, "I feel that the current Labour Government has not honored the commitments they made before the last election."

Over the past few days, the petition has picked up a lot of support, amassing 612,000 signatures by noon on Sunday. This number surpasses the 100,000 signatures required for it to be eligible for discussion.

The Government must address any petition that receives over 10,000 signatures. According to the official Parliament website, a response along with a scheduled debate date is anticipated on Monday.

READ MORE: BBC criticized for poor coverage of ICC's Netanyahu arrest warrant

Since the UK Budget was announced on October 30, backing for Labour has decreased in the polls.

In Scotland, the latest Holyrood poll released this week shows that the Scottish Labour party has fallen even further behind the SNP.

A survey carried out by Survation revealed that backing for the Labour party has declined by four percentage points in constituencies for the Holyrood election and by one percentage point on the regional list since September.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves declared an increase in taxes amounting to £40 billion, which she argued was essential to cover the £22 billion deficit created by the former Conservative administration.

We discussed a recent survey that indicated most Scots are concerned that the UK Budget will negatively impact their finances, with only 12% believing it would actually provide them with any financial gain.