Guide to Parliamentary Work

9. Petitions

9.1 A petition is a formal written request from one or more people to the Sovereign, the Government or to Parliament. A public petition is one made to the House of Commons and is a formal process involving sending a written appeal to an MP, following a set format, which is then presented to the Commons by the MP. Only Members may present public petitions to the House. Generally, MPs will present all public petitions they receive from their constituents. However, MPs aren't compelled to present petitions and doing so does not imply that they support the action specified by the petition. Petitions to the House, also known as ‘public petitions’ must be prepared in accordance with the House’s rules [External website] concerning form and content, which are available from the Journal Office.

9.2 Public petitions must be endorsed by the Journal Office as being in order, and signed by the Member. Public petitions should ask for something that is in the power of the House to grant. (It is important not to confuse public petitions to the House with petitions seeking to block the passage of a private bill. Petitions against private bills may be made directly by the petitioners if they are “directly and specifically” affected by the bill.)

9.3 Petitions that members of the public send directly to Departments or to No.10 are usually treated as correspondence. There is no formal parliamentary process involved. 

9.4 The public also has the right to petition the Queen. The right of the subject to petition the Monarch for redress of personal grievances has probably been exercised since Saxon times. It was recognised in Magna Carta and more explicitly in an Act of 1406. The Bill of Rights of 1688 restated that right in unambiguous terms, " ... it is the right of the subjects to petition the King, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal"¹. 

Informal and Formal presentation

9.5 Presentation of public petitions can be informal or formal. A Member can make an informal presentation any time when the House is sitting by placing them in a green bag on the back of the Speaker’s Chair. Alternatively, Members can present a petition on the Floor of the House.  The presentation takes place immediately before the end-of-day adjournment debate or, on Fridays, at the start of the day’s business. The Member is called and may make a brief statement (not a speech) outlining who the petition is from, what it concerns and the number of signatories. They conclude by reading out the ‘prayer’, which sets out what the petitioners are requesting. No other Member may speak.

Publication

9.6 The text of a petition which has been formally presented is set out in full in Hansard immediately after the Member’s remarks. The texts of petitions presented informally appear in Hansard after the day’s proceedings, in a section before written ministerial statements. Under Standing Order No. 156 a copy of the petition, once printed, is sent to the appropriate Government department. Following a resolution of the House on 25 October 2007, all substantive petitions should receive a response from the relevant Minister, in the form of an observation or notification that the Government does not have responsibility within two months. Any observations made by a Minister in reply are printed in Hansard after written ministerial statements and a copy is sent to the Member who presented the petition by the Journal Office. Copies of petitions and observations are also sent to the relevant select committee of the House, to decide whether to put the petition onto its formal agenda, though that committee has discretion as to whether to take action, and will not usually consider individual cases².

‘Tagging’ petitions to debates

9.7 It is open to Members to seek a reference, known as a tag, on the order paper referring to a presented petition as relevant to a particular debate. The agreement of the Member in charge of the relevant item of business (usually the whips) is required to secure a tag. It is expected that such tags would most usually be sought, and agreed to, in respect of adjournment debates in Westminster Hall where the backbench Member with the debate would be responsible for authorisation³. This procedure is rarely used.

e-Petitions

9.8 The Leader of the House outlined The Government’s response to the Procedure Committee’s First Report, Session 2007-08, e-Petitions (HC136), in a written ministerial statement on 22 July 2008⁴. It indicated broad support, in principle, for an e-petition system to be introduced to allow members of the public to petition Parliament more easily.

1. Rotuli Parliamentorum (7 & 8 Hen. IV, No 63)
2. Business of the House and its Committees: short guide
3. Business of the House and its Committees: short guide
4. Official Report 22 July Vol. 479 Column: 96WS