,
12 tweets,
3 min read
Read on Twitter
As the #RevokeArt50 petition may become largest ever submitted to UK parliament, a thread of some (mostly random) reflections 1/
This is what I call of a “protest” type of petition, with its main aim being to express dissatisfaction. For more on protest petitions see : blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpol…
There have been many petitions on Brexit since referendum, at least 255 accepted in this Parliament alone (+ 308 in 2015-17 parliament), and at least 9 debates on Brexit petitions. Just last week there was a parliament debate of a petition on revoking art 50. 3/
The difference with the current one is a political change: the petition took off following after Theresa May’s speech, with the little help of celebs endorsements (which are usually involved in a skyrocketing petition ), within the whole ongoing current political discussions 4/
It’s a clear protest type petition. Petitions play many different roles, one of them being safety valve, and work through applying pressure. A petition in itself can’t make change. But it is a useful campaign tool to apply pressure for change 5/
For more on the roles played by petitions see here: constitution-unit.com/2017/09/26/her… 6/
How high does it need to go to cause particularly strong pressure? Who knows, it depends on how it is used within current campaigning and political context. 7/
Petitioning is a valuable participatory democracy tool, but it is no direct democracy and it is definitely no substitute for representative democracy. It complements representative democracy, particularly when it integrated into policy-making process, as case in @HoCpetitions 8/
Far more specific point but worth mentioning that the entitlements to vote in UK referendum and general election are different to those to signing a petition. To vote, for one, you need to be 18 and have British nationality. To sign petition, you need to be Brit or live in UK 9/
So not comparable. But that should not diminish the fact that the petition is able to express considerable dissatisfaction with a specific issue. It’s up to campaigners and representatives to make something with it. 10/
And finally, there is very likely to be a counter-petition on its way. Still finally, conspiracy theories are laughable if not sad. The teams behind the @HoCpetitions are amongst the most dedicated and rigorous I’ve ever encountered. 11/end (I think)
Actually, an appendix: for a historical perspective, see tweets by my like-minded historians @Brodie_Waddell and @RichardHuzzey. 12? (End 2;))
