I had this email on Tuesday morning.
Dear William Scott,
You recently signed the petition: A review into how the education system prepares students for the climate crisis petition.parliament.uk/petitions/276983
Because of the General Election, the closing date for the petition you signed has changed. All petitions now have to close at 00:01am on 6 November. This is because Parliament will be dissolved, which means all parliamentary business – including petitions – will come to an end until after the election. This means the petitions site will be closed and people will not be able to start or sign petitions.
We’re sorry we weren’t able to give you more notice that this would happen.
The petition will be available for people to read on the site even though it will be closed for signatures. This petition won’t be reopened after the election.
The Government can’t respond to petitions during the election period. This means if the petition has over 10,000 signatures, it can’t receive a response from the current Government after 5 November. After the election, the new Government will have to decide whether it wants to respond to petitions from before the election.
The current Petitions Committee, the group of MPs who decide whether petitions are debated, won’t exist after 6 November. This means that if the petition has over 100,000 signatures, it can’t be scheduled for debate during this Parliament. After the election, there will be a new Petitions Committee, and they will be responsible for deciding which petitions are debated.
The petitions site will open again after the election, but at the moment we don’t know exactly when. You can follow us on Twitter @HoCPetitions for updates, or check back on the petitions site for news if you prefer.
Ahead of the General Election on 12 December, make sure you’re registered to vote. You can check whether you’re eligible to vote and find out how to register at: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote. The deadline to register to vote is Tuesday 26 November.
Many thanks,
The Petitions team
UK Government and Parliament
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It's not just the petition I (and thousands of others) signed, of course, but every other petition is caught in this trap. It seems odd that petitions (which are hardly a key element of government policy) have to be closed in this way. Just another example of the way that the Mother of Parliaments and real-life concerns are not always in sync.
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