MPs to hold three-hour debate on calling an immediate general election

Over one million people have signed the petition

This comes in response to a petition on the official government website which has over one million signatures and is now closed.

The petition was set up on 5 June 2025 and closed on the 5 December of the same year.

After initially reaching 10,000 signatories, the government gave a written response to the petition on 11 August 2025.

It read: "This Government was elected on a mandate of change at the July 2024 general election. Our full focus is on fixing the foundations, rebuilding Britain, and restoring public confidence in government."

However, since it passed the 100,000-signature mark, the matter had to be considered for debate in Parliament.

This has led to a three-hour debate set to be held on 12 January at 4.30pm.

The debate will be available to watch live on the UK Parliament's YouTube channel.

The text which was lodged with the petition reads: "Call an immediate general election.

"We want an immediate general election to be held. We think the majority need and want change."

Despite the petition receiving one million signatures and set to be debated in Parliament, it is unlikely it will lead to meaningful change.

Keir Starmer has already doubled down on his statement of intent to see out his full mandate as Prime Minister.

He said in an interview last week that he "will be PM this time next year."

However, this is not the first and likely not the last, petition to call for a general election.

Another one calling for Parliament to be dissolved and a general election to be held was only set up at the start of December 2025, and already has over 150,000 signatures.

Parliament previously debated a petition for a general election which had three million signatures and which closed in May 2025.