A £500,000 recall petition to decide whether disgraced MP Fiona Onasanya will keep her seat in parliament will be launched for the first time in England in two weeks.
It was announced that petition officer Gillian Beasley received official notification from the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow MP, that the Peterborough MP would be the subject of a recall petition.
It means that a by-election will be triggered in Onsanya’s constituency if more than 10 per cent – around 7,000 - local voters sign it.
It comes as the 35-year-old lost an appeal against her conviction for lying about a speeding charge.
Peterborough City Council will launch the petition for the parliamentary seat on Tuesday March 19.
Ms Beasley said: “I will be giving Fiona Onasanya notice of the recall petition personally so that she is aware the process is now underway.
“This is the first time that a recall petition has been held in England and Wales and we have just ten working days to set up the process and make electors aware of their right to sign and how they can do so.
“We have planned carefully for this recall petition over a number of weeks in order to be ready to run the process efficiently and effectively.”
Residents who are parliamentary electors will receive a letter next week about the recall petition and where they can attend to sign.
Each elector will be allocated a signing station.
There will be ten signing stations where people can attend to sign for the petition.
These will be at Werrington Library, Bretton Library, St Luke’s Church on Mayor’s Walk, Peterborough Town Hall, East Community Centre, Dogsthorpe Library, Eye Youth and Community Centre, Bedford Hall in Thorney and The Bull public house in Guntons Road, Newborough.
Registered electors will be able to attend and sign a petition slip and place this in a ballot box at the signing place.
Signing places will be open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9am to 5pm, on Tuesdays from 7am to 5pm and on Thursdays from 9am to 10pm.
Residents will have six weeks to sign the recall petition with it closing at 5pm on Wednesday May 1 2019.
Anyone wishing to sign the petition by post may do so and can apply for a postal/proxy petition at any point during the six week period.
No updates on how many people have signed the petition can be given whilst the process is ongoing.
The result will be sent to the Speaker of the House of Commons on Wednesday May 1 2019 and we must then await their reply before publishing
The process of running the recall petition is estimated to cost in the region of £500,000 which will be fully funded by the Government.
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