Get you views heard with an e-petition Downing Street website proves a popular way to get their views heard Downing Street's 'e-petition' service, which allows the general public to voice their concerns online to the prime minister, has received millions of signatures. More than 600,000 were for a petition calling for Tony Blair to scrap plans to replace road tax with pricing based on vehicle use with the next most popular being for the repeal of the Hunting Act. The service was launched in late 2006, with thousands of petitions being posted so far. The anti-Hunting Act call has received over 22,000 signatures, while a demand for a census to be published every 70 years - rather than 100 years - has gained 15,000. Some frivolous, plain daft or bad taste petitions have been rejected:
- Ban broccoli as an edible foodstuff and reclassify it as a toxic substance
- Close down Arsenal Football Club
- Look at owners, not dogs
- Let Big Al be a contestant in the Big Brother house
A petition against introducing identity cards and one against replacing the UK's nuclear deterrent are also in the top 10. A spokesman for Downing Street said: "We welcome this landmark in our e-petitions service, which is proving to be a popular way for people to get their views heard. "We look forward to further developing the service in the coming months to help citizens engage with the work of government." The Downing Street website states in its introduction...
"There is a long-established tradition of members of the public presenting petitions at the door of No 10 Downing Street. The e-Petitions [http://petitions.pm.gov.uk] service has been designed to offer a modern parallel, which is more convenient for the petitioner. Unlike paper-based petitions, this new service also provides an opportunity for No 10 to respond to petitioners via email." "Since its launch in November the ePetitions site has proved to be a highly popular innovation in the way that people communicate with government and with the Prime Minister's Office in particular." "The service allows anyone (who is a UK citizen) to create a petition and to collect signatures via the website. Petitioners are asked to meet basic criteria, set out in an acceptance policy, but we aim to accept most petitions. The principal reasons for rejecting petitions so far have been obscenity, potential to cause offence, libel or duplication."
As of mid-february...
- Over 3,381 petitions are active and available for signing
- There have been over 2,555,972 signatures.
- There have been 2,110,710 signers
- Aroun 1 in 6 are rejected
Categories include:
- Business and industry
- Economics and finance
- Education and skills
- Employment, jobs and careers
- Environment
- Government, politics and public administration
- Health, well-being and care
- Housing
- Information and communication
- International affairs and defence
- Leisure and culture
- Life in the community
- People and organisations
- Public order, justice and rights
- Science, technology and innovation
- Transport and infrastructure
Top 10 closed petitions to date:
- Scrap the planned vehicle tracking and road pricing policy
- Ensure that inheritance tax is scrapped in this year's Budget
- Posthumously award Bob Paisley a knighthood
- Compel all organizations using non-geographic numbers (e.g. 0845, 087* prefixes) to also publicize an equivalent geographic number (e.g. 01* / 02* prefixes) where they can be reached (and which can usually be called more cheaply than an 0845 / 087* number).
- Scrap the proposed introduction of ID cards
- Reduce the classified period for census data from 100 years to 70 years
- Scrap plans for Northern Ireland Water Charge plans starting April 2007
- Stop the destruction of the Royal Navy and spend the defence budget more wisely
- Champion the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, by not replacing the Trident nuclear weapons system
- Return the responsibility for medical training to the Royal Colleges
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