The man who set up a petition demanding a fresh general election which has picked up over a million signatures has said people feel ‘betrayed’ by Labour.
Michael Westwood, who is the owner of Britain’s ‘cheapest pub’, said he didn’t imagine in his ‘wildest dreams’ that his campaign, which has been reposted by Elon Musk, would get such traction.
The petition, which complains that Keir Starmer has ‘gone back on promises’, has been gaining over 100,000 backers an hour.
Senior Tories hailed the huge numbers as an ‘expression of anger that Labour lied’.
Although the Government has dismissed the call, and it can only trigger a debate in the Westminster Hall chamber, the numbers underline will add to nerves in Downing Street.
Mr Westwood, the owner of the Wagon and Horses pub where pints sell from £2.30, criticised Labour’s actions since taking power in July as looking ‘nothing like what was promised’ in its manifesto.
He told the Express: ‘I think people have had enough, people have seen what’s happened over in America as well, and I think that’s had a knock-on effect that, actually, if people stand together and vote then we can make a change.’
Polls have been showing that Labour has taken a massive hit from a torrid first four months in power.
An internal impact assessment last week revealed that removing the winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners could push 100,000 more into poverty.
Big retailers have been sending a message that the £25billion employer NICs raid in the Budget will cost jobs and push up prices.
Meanwhile, ministers have been hit with bad economic news, with the economy struggling and inflation higher than hoped.
On his petition Mr Westwood wrote: ‘I believe the current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election.’
The pub owner told the Express: ‘Not in my wildest dreams did I think this was going to take off like it has.’
Asked why he thinks the demand for a general election is resonating as much as it has, Mr Westwood said he believes voters feel ‘betrayed’ by Labour.
The pub owner, who voted Conservative at the last election, said he was particularly incensed by the Chancellor’s Budget, which despite reducing the price of a pint by 1p, cancelled out the benefits by hiking employers’ National Insurance contributions.
The government is under no obligation to comply with a petition, and they are often not even picked up by MPs to steward a debate in Westminster Hall – although in this case the volume of signatures means one could well be scheduled.
Although signatories have to say they are UK citizens or residents and provide an email and postcode, there is not thought to be any other verification.
A poll last week found support for Labour has slumped to a new record post-election low.
Sir Keir’s party is now three points behind the Tories – and just six ahead of Reform – down two on 25 per cent after a week of battles over its plan to make agriculturalists pay a low rate of inheritance tax.
It marks a dramatic fall from its post-election high of 39 per cent which gave it an 11-point lead over the Conservatives.
A second poll shows that almost three-quarters of voters now believe the UK has got worse under Sir Keir’s leadership.
The surveys by More in Common were carried out between November 19 and 21, amid the fallout from Tuesday’s protests in Westminster led by TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson.
Labour MPs have grown increasingly restive about the amount of time the Prime Minister has spent abroad since the election in July.
Last week’s G20 summit in Brazil marked Sir Keir’s 26th day out of the UK since July’s election, with 15 international trips to ten countries.
The source said: ‘Much of it was unavoidable, but not all of it, and he knows it doesn’t look great to be sunning himself in Rio de Janeiro while farmers are protesting and pensioners are freezing’.
Ministers have said that the constant travelling on planes with patchy wifi was making policy coordination difficult.