'PM should change course' as more than 30,000 Shropshire residents call for General Election - MP

South Shropshire MP, Stuart Anderson has said the Prime Minister must “start listening to the concerns of people in rural communities like South Shropshire", as a petition calling for a fresh General Election has reached three million signatures in just over two months. 

As of January 6,  the petition has amassed a total of 3,018,991. This includes more than 7,250 residents across South Shropshire, 5,500 in Telford, 6,806 in North Shropshire, 5,226 in Shrewsbury and 6,327 in the Wrekin.

Mr Anderson said the petition follows fallout from the first six months of the new government, with recent decisions causing division among government ranks. 

It includes restricting eligibility for winter fuel payments, denying support for women affected by increases to the State Pension Age, and the unpopular ‘Family Farm Tax’, which will reduce agricultural property relief for farming families. 

A petition calling for the latter to be scrapped has been signed by more than 200,000 people across the country. 

A petition calling for a fresh General Election was launched in November by Michael Westwood, owner of Sandwell’s Wagon and Horses. It attracted more than three million signatures and was debated by the Petitions Committee at Westminster Hall last night - with politicians firmly stating that another general election was not possible due to the UK government's democratic mandate responsibilities. 

However politiicans did welcome the debate that the petition had created.

In his petition, Mr Westwood states: “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.” 

Appearing on ITV’s This Morning before Christmas, Sir Keir Starmer stated: “I'm not that surprised that many of them want a re-run.” 

Dashing the prospects of a new General Election, the Prime Minister added: “That isn't how our system works."  

Mr Anderson said the debate is a “vital opportunity” to convince the government to change course. 

He said he has written to the Prime Minister, stating the increasing number of signatures express a “rapidly growing and palpable sense of feeling the government is taking the wrong direction". 

All petitions on Parliament’s website run for six months, meaning residents have to May 20, 2025 to add their signature. 

Mr Anderson said: “When the Prime Minister said he would unite the country, little did he think it would be in opposition to his policies. 

"Having now clocked up six months in office, this new government’s greatest achievement has been uniting the country in opposition to its announcements. 

"Its record of broken promises has let down pensioners, business owners, farmers, and working people across the country. 

"That three million people have signed the petition calling for a fresh General Election should be a stark warning to the government. 

"This expresses a very palpable, and rapidly growing, sense of feeling that the government is taking the wrong direction. 

"The Prime Minister must seize this vital opportunity to change course and start listening to the concerns of people in rural communities like South Shropshire.”