Keir Starmer: I’m not surprised some want general election re-run

British citizens and UK residents can set up a petition on the UK government or Parliament website.

Petitions that get more than 10,000 signatures will get a response from the government and ones that gather over 100,000 names will be considered for a debate in Parliament.

In 2019, a petition calling for Brexit to be cancelled received 6.1 million signatures. Three years earlier a call for a second Brexit referendum garnered 4.2 million names.

This petition urging the government to hold a new general election was set up last week and has been promoted by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and tech billionaire Elon Musk.

In order to sign a petition, you are asked to tick a box confirming you are a British citizen or UK resident and provide a postcode.

The petition reads: “I would like there to be another general election. I believe the current Labour government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election.”

It comes five months after Labour won a landslide victory in the July general election, securing 9.7 million votes and 412 seats in the House of Commons.

However, it only received 35% share of the vote – the lowest won by a single party government since the end of the war.

Speaking to ITV, Sir Keir said: “Look, I remind myself that very many people didn’t vote Labour at the last election.

“I’m not surprised that many of them want a rerun. That isn’t how our system works.”

He also said he had expected governing to be “difficult” but added: “I wouldn’t swap a single day in opposition for a day in power.

“It’s much better to be in power, to do things.”