Online petitions to be debated in British Parliament - Polidicks

[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12084525[/url] [list][*]The e-petition system on Number10.gov.uk will be closed, having been suspended since this government got into power. [*]A new system will be launched on Directgov, and the most popular petitions debated formally in Parliament. [*]Labour is criticising the plans, saying petitions from the site such as the installation of Jeremy Clarkson as Prime Minister and the adoption of Jedi as the state religion would have to be heard and thus Parliamentary time would be wasted.[/list] [quote=BBC News][b]A plan to allow popular online petitions to be debated in Parliament within a year has been given the go-ahead by the government.[/b] Ministers will seek agreement with the authorities, including the House of Commons Procedure Committee, to give the petitions parliamentary time. Those receiving most support - probably 100,000 signatures - would be debated, with some possibly becoming bills. But Labour said the plans would mean "crazy ideas" being discussed by MPs. The government intends to shut down the e-petitions part of the Number 10 website, which has been suspended since the general election, and open a similar facility on the Directgov website. This would be more closely moderated, with petitions checked closely for "eligibility". [b]'Obsessed and fanatical'[/b] In June, the Leader of the Commons, Sir George Young, said the plans - first spelt out in the Conservative manifesto - would go ahead. He indicated at the start of December that the petitions website would be moved to Directgov. A government source told the BBC that the plans had been recently discussed by ministers and said they were very confident they would go ahead. The proposals have yet to be taken through cabinet, and ministers have not yet discussed them with the Speaker, John Bercow. The consent of Mr Bercow and the Procedure Committee would almost certainly be required. Petitioners would have to be on the electoral roll and parliamentary time might also be refused if a topic had been recently debated. Labour MP Paul Flynn, a member of the Commons public administration committee, criticised the government's proposal, telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "This seems to be an attractive idea to those who haven't seen how useless this has been in other parts of the world when it's tried. "If you ask people the question 'do you want to pay less tax?', they vote yes. If we get the e-petitions in there will be some asking for Jeremy Clarkson to be prime minister, for Jedi and Darth Vader to be the religions of the country. "The blogosphere is not an area that is open to sensible debate; it is dominated by the obsessed and the fanatical and we will get crazy ideas coming forward." BBC News political correspondent Ross Hawkins said that allowing petitions to be drafted as parliamentary bills would be more difficult and would take longer to put in place. The government envisages using the private member's bill procedure, which would require an individual MP to support the measure and would be easy for other members to block. There are no details on how planned legislation would be taken through the Lords. Petitions were introduced to the Downing Street website by the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair. The most popular, with more than 1.8 million people in support, opposed road pricing. More than 70,000 backed the one-word suggestion that Gordon Brown should "resign". And almost 50,000 signed up to the idea that TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson should become prime minister.[/quote]

If the people want Jeremey Clarkson, then give the people [B]Jeremy Clarkson![/B]

It does sound good with how the people can highlight issues that are important to them like the Digital Economy Bill to be debated in Parliament but I see how they are worried about people voting up things like Jeremy Clarkson for Primeminster,

So is Jeremy Clarkson PM yet?

They better not be getting the petitions from Facebook.

good job labour picking two topics that I would TOTALLY BE FOR if I was hearing them in parliament.

holy shit

Nice how Labour is criticising the Government for this when it was their idea in the first place. I know it's their job, but seriously stop just having a go at them for nothing and DEVELOP SOME FUCKING POLICIES. Here's Labour's website: [url]labour.org.uk[/url]. I defy anyone to find a policy on there. It's ridiculous.

Discussing the installation of Jeremy Clarkson as the Prime Minister would [b]not[/b] be a waste of time.

The media coverage will probably spark the final signatures needed. I hope there'll be "Clarkson for PM" demonstrations in front of Parliament some day soon.

[QUOTE=Capitulazyguy;27033006]Nice how Labour is criticising the Government for this when it was their idea in the first place. I know it's their job, but seriously stop just having a go at them for nothing and DEVELOP SOME FUCKING POLICIES. Here's Labour's website: [url]labour.org.uk[/url]. I defy anyone to find a policy on there. It's ridiculous.[/QUOTE] Well if they don't promise any policies people will be less angry when those policies don't happen.

why does anyone vote for Labour? not saying that the tories are any better, but labour have to be the most inefficient bureaucratic bunch of lying scumbags in the world.

[QUOTE=Pace.;27037499]why does anyone vote for Labour? not saying that the tories are any better, but labour have to be the most inefficient bureaucratic bunch of lying scumbags in the world.[/QUOTE] Oh no, you're thinking of all mainstream political parties and the Lib Dems.

[QUOTE=Capitulazyguy;27033006]Nice how Labour is criticising the Government for this when it was their idea in the first place. I know it's their job, but seriously stop just having a go at them for nothing and DEVELOP SOME FUCKING POLICIES. Here's Labour's website: [url]labour.org.uk[/url]. I defy anyone to find a policy on there. It's ridiculous.[/QUOTE] Haven't they made it quite clear over the past few weeks that they are completely rewriting all of their policies (and in one case, asking for peoples advice). Also I thought the online petition thing was Labour's idea, not debating them in parliament (which does seem like it would be a waste of time).

I'd vote for labour if they lowered the voting age to 16 and if they added proportional representation.

Does this make the TS4 petition have a use? :buddy:

They're gonna have their hands full when it gets flooded with loads of legalise weed petitions (which I will sign), or they can just ignore them and carry on with their delusions.

This sounds like a good idea, New Labour however needs to go back to being Labour and no the apologetic, Thatcherist, loan spending idiots they were.

If theres 2 things that should never mix then its the internet and the government.

Someone needs to do a petition for england to invade America.... I would so love if it passed... WW3 Here we come!

Debated, more like anything that benefits anyone that isn't rich or inside the M25 ringroad to get ignored, though yesterday the BBC suggested that someone starts a petition to kick the government out.

Jeremy Clarkson as prime minister ---> England is a now automotive HEAVEN.

If you people get Jeremy Clarkson as Prime Minister, I want Hammond to be the president. James May can have Africa. He'll use maths to fix it up.

I want May as PM, he could lead the literal tea party.

I love the panic certain MPs are getting themselves into as they realise they'll actually have to debate the wishes of the people. Frankly I think the plans are awesome, could easily end up being one of the most exciting things to happen in UK politics for a long time. [editline]30th December 2010[/editline] [quote]Labour MP Paul Flynn, a member of the Commons public administration committee, criticised the government's proposal, telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "This seems to be an attractive idea to those who haven't seen how useless this has been in other parts of the world when it's tried. "If you ask people the question 'do you want to pay less tax?', they vote yes. If we get the e-petitions in there will be some asking for Jeremy Clarkson to be prime minister, for Jedi and Darth Vader to be the religions of the country. "The blogosphere is not an area that is open to sensible debate; it is dominated by the obsessed and the fanatical and we will get crazy ideas coming forward."[/quote] Wouldn't want to go letting the insane little people have any say in things would we now?

[QUOTE=MasterG;27049226]If a large proportion of the country want Jeremy Clarkson as PM, can the government really say no, considering they're meant to be representative of the people?[/QUOTE] Then they should vote for him in an election. You can't just get 100,000 people (a small percentage of the UK) to say they want him to be PM without letting the other 59,900,000 people have a vote. Additionally, what most people want from the government is unrealistic and retarded. I don't blame Parliament for not wanting to listen to their shit.