SKY News host Kay Burley has said Elon Musk needs to “butt out” after weighing in on a petition calling for a General Election.
Created by Michael Westwood on October 31 – just one day after the Budget was delivered – the petition has now gathered more than 2.5 million signatures although has been dismissed by Keir Starmer.
We also told how the Scottish Greens have expressed concerns about the petition, warning that it is being promoted by “far-right conspiracy theorists, racists and people like Elon Musk”.
Twitter/X owner Musk, who has been accused of allowing far-right conspiracy theories to flourish on the platform, was among those to share the petition.
He said: “The people of Britain have had enough of a tyrannical police state.”
Discussing the petition on Sky News on Tuesday morning, Burley was discussing Musk’s contributions.
“Elon Musk needs to butt out. What’s it got to do with him” Absolutely right @KayBurley👏 pic.twitter.com/NfGHrtJkuj
— Peter Stefanovic (@PeterStefanovi2) November 26, 2024
She said: “Elon Musk needs to butt out. Doesn’t he? What’s it got to do with him?”
When speaking about the petition on Monday’s This Morning programme, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said it is “not how our system works”.
“I remind myself that very many people didn’t vote Labour at the last election,” he said.
“I’m not surprised that many of them want a re-run, that isn’t how our system works.
“There will be plenty of people who didn’t want us in the first place. What our focus is on is the decisions that I have to make every day.”
On holding petition debates, the UK Government’s website says: “Petitions which reach 100,000 signatures are almost always debated.
“But we may decide not to put a petition forward for debate if the issue has already been debated recently or there’s a debate scheduled for the near future.
“If that’s the case we’ll tell you how you can find out more about parliamentary debates on the issue raised by your petition.
“MPs might consider your petition for a debate before it reaches 100,000 signatures.”