E-petitioning Parliament: Understanding the connections between citizens and the UK Parliament

Abstract

2025 marks ten years since the UK Government and Parliament e-petitions system was established in a context of political dissatisfaction and disengagement with representative democracy. This article responds to calls for empirically grounded research about the mechanisms that connect citizens to their representative institutions by focussing on parliamentary e-petitions as a popular tool for citizen engagement with political processes. It presents findings from qualitative research with animal welfare e-petition creators, campaigners, and the MPs who supported them to highlight the role played by petitioners themselves in ensuring that their voices are heard. It also considers the ‘added value’ of e-petitions as a political campaigning tool from the perspective of petitioners by highlighting the spillover effects that arise from using an e-petition system that has formal ties to parliament. In doing so this article makes novel contributions to understandings of political participation via institutionally facilitated democratic innovations.