For a while I have been rallying support across Parliament to be elected as the Chair of The Petitions Committee. Yesterday (19.10.2023) a vote took place and I am delighted to report that I was successfully elected!

The Petitions Committee is made of up of 11 backbench Members of Parliament from both Government and opposition. The role of this committee is to look at e-petitions submitted on petition.parliament.uk and public (paper) petitions presented to the House of Commons.

The Petitions Committee can:

• ask for more information in writing—from petitioners, the Government, or other relevant people or organisations
• ask for more information in person—from petitioners, the Government, or other relevant people or organisations. This might be in Parliament or somewhere else in the UK
• write to the Government or another public body to press for action on a petition
• ask another parliamentary committee to look into the topic raised by a petition
• put forward petitions for debate in the House of Commons

I’m so pleased and grateful for the support of my colleagues who elected me to serve as chair.

I genuinely do love engaging the public in Parliament and democracy and this is just one of many reasons why I am looking forward to getting stuck in as chair of the Petitions Committee!