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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Lucy Jackson

General Election petition gathers more than one million signatures

A PETITION calling for a General Election has gathered more than one million signatures.

A mere 143 days since Labour won the General Election on July 4, the party is facing criticism for policies such as the axing of the Winter Fuel Payment and a new inheritance tax for farmers, which culminated in a protest in Westminster this week.

The petition, created by Michael Westwood on October 31 – just one day after the Budget was delivered – calls for there to be “another General Election”.

“I believe the current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election,” the petition reads.

In the last couple of days, the petition has gained significant traction, gathering 1,136,756 signatures as of 5.12pm on Sunday  – meaning it has exceeded the threshold of 100,000 signatures for it to be considered for a debate.

The Government is also required to respond to any petition that gets more than 10,000 signatures – with the Parliament’s official website stating a response and a date for the debate is expected on Monday.

Since the UK Budget was delivered on October 30, support for Labour has dropped in the polls.

In Scotland, Scottish Labour have fallen further behind the SNP in the latest Holyrood poll published this week.

The polling, conducted by Survation, found that support for Labour has fallen by four points in Holyrood constituencies and one point on the regional list since September.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced £40 billion of tax rises which she claimed was necessary to plug a £22bn “black hole” left by the previous Tory government.

We told how another poll found the majority of Scots believe the UK Budget will leave them worse off, with just 12% saying they thought they would financially benefit from the Budget.

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