Submitted by Colin Minto on Wednesday 14th January 2026
Published on Friday 20th February 2026
Current status: Open
Open until: Thursday 20th August 2026
Current Signatures: 65
(count is updated approximately hourly)
Relevant Departments
Tagged with
balance ~ by-election ~ Change ~ Councillor ~ Democrats ~ Electing ~ Elections ~ Fairness ~ Fairs ~ Held ~ independence ~ local ~ MP ~ New party ~ Opportunity ~ Parliamentary ~ parties ~ Politics ~ Reasonable ~ Represent ~ Values ~ Voters ~ Voting
Require a by-election if MPs / Councillors change parties or become independent
The Government should legislate to require a by-election to be held if an MP or Local Councillor switches political party in the middle of the parliamentary term so affected constituents get the opportunity to vote in an election to decide who represents them.
Many people vote for people they believe will represent them best and for candidates which represent the values of a particular political party. We believe it is not fair or democratic for voters who vote for an elected official who switches party, or becomes independent, and does not have to stand again in an immediate election. It stands to reason that some will not support the values of the new party, but to be balanced, some will, but this is assumptive and we believe it should be ratified via an official election.
If you want to sign this petition (as opposed to merely discuss it), you need to do that on the government's e-Petitions website.
216.73.217.17 Wed, 24 Jun 2026 15:54:56 +0100
