Secondly

There is a new website that has just been released allowing people to create and sign petitions on government. If enough signatures are collated (100, 000), the issue must be debated by MPs.

I think this is an excellent idea. I know MPs hold constituency surgeries with a view to feeding ideas back to the party and Parliament however I am ashamed to say I have no idea when my local MP holds theirs. I am willing to bet many others are in my situation. Furthermore, anyone who has seen Yes Minister of The Thick of It will know that MPs are rarely fully in control of their actions. Admittedly both programmes have been exaggerated for comedic effect but the point stands that many currents run through the Palace of Westminster and the power of individual MPs are limited. These petitions will at best force the hands of our elected representatives and make them take notice of what we, the electorate, want. At worst they will provide insight into the issues voters care about which will hopefully be used to shape policy.

I have looked at this website. Some of the petitions are very sensible (both ones I agree with and ones I disagree with), others are obviously jokes but nevertheless the opportunity for practical democracy has been created. Unfortunately, a number of topics seem to appear repeatedly. This could lead to some serious issues not passing the signature threshold for debate and undermine the process. Hopefully this is an initial glitch and will be rectified over time. Another alternative would be to reduce the voting threshold to account for this.

Take a look at the site. See what people are creating petitions about. Add your thoughts to the fold.

Hopefully this opportunity will provide fruitful and we can all benefit from it.

JR