Petitions to the People.

Research published by the House of Commons Library shows that 23 million people have signed petitions on the parliament website since their introduction in 2015. This may have an influence on voter turnout at general elections.

In the 2017/19 parliament alone there were 8154 petitions signed by 15,166.387 unique users of the site. Out of these 456 gathered enough signatures to receive a response from government and 73 went on to be debated in Westminster Hall.

The Petitions Committee only considers petitions relating to matters for which the UK parliament or House of Commons has responsibility. Local councils and the three devolved parliaments have separate arrangements for receiving petitions.

There is no official minimum age for starting or signing a petition, so many who do so may be under the legal voting age of 18. Petitions can also be signed by Jon-UK citizens, who also cannot vote.

Research suggests though that a link may exist between the popularity of petitions and turnout at general elections.

In the ten constituencies with the highest number of petitions eight also had a higher than average voter turnout in 2019. At the same election nine of the ten constituencies with the fewest petitions also saw a lower than average number of people cast their vote.

Turnout across the UK at the 2019 general election was 67.3%, down 1.5 percentage points on 2017 (68.8%), but still the second highest since the salad days of Tony Blair in 1997. Out of the four home nations Scotland recorded the highest turnout (68.1%) and Northern Ireland the lowest (61.8%); the two English regions with the highest turnout were the South West (72.0%) and the South East (70.2%).

Factors influencing the popularity of petitions may, the research suggests, be linked to the perceived safety of the seat in question with voters who feel they have no other voice using them to highlight their concerns. However, they have also been shown to be popular in one very marginal seat (Cities of London and Westminster) and one very safe seat (Edinburgh North and Leith).

In 2019, an election the saw a more than usual number of previously safe seats fall, mostly going from Labour to the Conservatives, there seemed to be no clear link between turnout and the safety of a seat.

Age though may influence voter turnout, with an Ipsos-MORI poll suggesting 47% of voters aged 18-24 cast their ballot compared to 74% of over 65's, a widening of the gap in 2017 when, respectively, 54% and 71% of the same group voted.

On one level the popularity of petitioning parliament is something about which to feel thankful. In a country where exhausted apathy often seems to be out default response to politics any kind of engagement is. Only in this instance it is hard not to feel that to some extent we the public are being sold a pup.

There is something undeniably satisfying about signing a petition, it offers the illusion of being politically active without the fuss of having to leave the house. The question keeps nagging at me though, just what do all these petitions achieve?

In my experience it tends to be much less than the signatories thought they would. A response from government is very nice, but in terms of content they tend to be about as memorable as the hit single from the summer before last.

As for those that get 'debated', either in Westminster Hall or the less grand environs of your local town hall. The whole thing seems a lot more like an opportunity for representatives to grandstand than democracy in action; hot air alone does not make legislation.

Petitions have their part to play, not least when it comes to highlighting issues missed by politicians afflicted with the myopia of high office. The must though be backed by further action, no great change was ever brought about just because enough people typed their name in a text box.

If we shrink our engagement to signing petitions online then as actors in the drama of politics, we reduce our role to that of children. Easily pacified mites to be patted on the head and sent up to the nursery, letting the grownups downstairs get on with wrecking the rest of the house.