Big success for Gordon Brown resignation e-petition

Prime minister is a fan of Number 10's online petitions, but may choose to ignore this one

Brown: A fan of e-petitions

An online petition calling for prime minister Gordon Brown to resign has attracted more than 60,000 signatures, and is by far the most popular e-petition on the Number 10 web site.

The Number 10 web site is increasingly used by public administrators as a means to gauge public opinion. Brown himself has previously backed the use of e-petitions as a formal means of involving the public in the work of parliament.

In a green paper on constitutional reform published in 2007, Brown highlighted the 10 Downing Street web site e-petition system, which at the time had processed 22,300 petitions of which 7,500 were live with more than 4.4 million signatures.

‘I encourage this House to agree a new process for ensuring consideration of petitions from members of the public,’ said Brown in a statement to MPs at the time.

The consultation paper added: ‘The government believes that people should be able to petition the House of Commons with as much ease as they are currently able to petition the prime minister, and that there should be a procedure for handling petitions which considers whether each merits a debate in parliament.’

Brown was believed to favour a threshold for the number of signatories above which a debate will be mandatory.

Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman last year formally told the Commons procedure committee that the government welcomed outline proposals for an e-petitions system that would "help to make a major contribution to making the House more accessible to the public".

In March this year, Brown also outlined plans to allow citizens to rate the services of GPs, police, childcare and councils online, in eBay-style feedback systems.

And a web-based public consultation on upcoming legislation for the year ahead launched in May last year. The feedback form, available at www.commonsleader. gov.uk/draftprogramme will allow the public to advise MPs of their opinion on all drafted legislation.

However it seems unlikely that the latest show of online public opinion will lead to action on Brown’s behalf.