Calls for general election ballooned after ‘foreign interference’, MP claims
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Calls for a general election ballooned after “foreign interference”, a Labour MP has claimed. Yasmin Qureshi warned the “Call A General Election” petition may have collected some of its 3.02 million signatures as a result of “misinformation” and campaigners abroad.
But Father of the House Sir Edward Leigh suggested dismissing the signatories’ concerns might lead to the rise of “populism”, while Reform UK leader Nigel Farage warned of “utter disenchantment with the entire political system”. Cabinet Office minister Ellie Reeves said that the prospect of 5am starts during another election campaign filled her with “joy”.
But she rejected calls for another poll, adding: “When the next election eventually comes, we will be proud to stand on our record.”. The petition on the House of Commons website, which members of the public can use a UK postcode to sign, reads: “I believe the current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election.”.
Some MPs in Westminster Hall groaned on Monday when Ms Qureshi (Bolton South and Walkden) said: “This petition has grown, some of it to do with a lot of misinformation, some of it to do with foreign interference. “You may laugh at it, but that happens to be correct as well.”.
She later described “a £20 billion of deficit – a big black hole which no-one knew about, so therefore we had to take decisions”, including changes to employers’ national insurance contributions and inheritance taxes on some estates worth more than £1 million.
