Oh, this will be fun…
The government is to follow the lead of the television programme The X Factor and allow the public to decide on legislation to be put before MPs.
In an attempt to reduce what is seen as a disconnection between the public and parliament, ministers will ensure that the most popular petition on the government website Direct.gov.uk will be drafted as a bill. It is also planning to guarantee that petitions that reach a fixed level of support – most likely 100,000 signatures – will be ensured time for a Commons debate.
Lesseee… What happens when leaving the EU, bringing back hanging, stopping immigration and repealing the smoking ban get the requisite number of supporters?
As has been pointed out in the comments to the piece, they will be ignored.
Best thing to do is sit back and watch the fun unfold.
I love this bit:
The government source said: “It may well mean that we see some difficult issues raised, such as withdrawal from the European Union, but that would put the onus on parliamentarians to convince one another of the many benefits of staying inside the European Union. You would have to win the argument”.
What utter twaddle. The only positive thing is it may further reveal the gulf between the people and the parliamentarians.
The Clegg already tried this with his pretend ‘I am listening’ website. On which whole threads vanished when they brought up inconvenient issues.
They will only listen to what they want to hear. It’s a complete waste of time and money.
What parliament has yet to realise is that almost everyone already knows this.
The spin is making me dizzy.
So best not to hold my breath waiting for Jeremy Clarkson to move into Downing Street. Unless there’s a Downing Street in Doncaster.