Hundreds of primary schools are closed each year to cater for local elections. In addition, thousands are closed to cater for general elections and referendums. Other countries hold their elections on Saturdays. A recent legal precedence ruled that a parent could not remove a child from school to go on holiday, but local authorities are regularly forced to close schools to facilitate elections.

Plans to sell off Oswestry's council houses were voted against ten years ago. Our attitude to this has not changed. Oswestry needs more social housing, not less. We want investment in building new homes in the right places for our community whilst protecting our heritage.

Investigations by Channel 4 News over a year have uncovered alleged electoral fraud & corruption which has already led to the resignation of some officials. It has been reported that 14 police forces have so far referred approximately 30 MPs to the CPS for alleged electoral fraud who, with officials may have illegally influenced the result of the previous election. The police forces would not have referred the matter to the CPS without compelling evidence. The electorate has a fundamental legal right to know which MPs may be found guilty may face custodial sentences preventing them from representing their constituents. If charges are brought, as many expect, an immediate high court injunction or supreme court hearing must be brought on behalf of the allegedly defrauded electorate either to bar those found guilty or at least to postpone the election until such time as guilt or innocence is proven. All details must be disclosed prior to the proposed election or those already allegedly guilty of of gaining election through corrupt means may be re-elected and the proposed election being judged null and void.

Imagine an election, where your vote would be as easy as checking an update on your phone. In our age of social media, everything is online - from our pensions, tax details, banking and car insurance - and so voting online should be a service for people too. If citizens were able to vote online, this would empower thousands more people to register and vote: as a vote would simply be a question of logging into your smartphone, and swiping right or left, to select your candidate or party of choice. Please add your signature to help petition the UK Government, to make online voting an option for all general and local elections in the UK. Let's put democracy in the palms of people's hands,

Are Opinion Polls now harming the democratic process? The reporting of opinion polls has become increasingly central to the work of broadcast and print media, but they are proving to be increasingly flawed and inaccurate in their predictions. In the British context they also skew reporting by focusing attention on the ratings of party leaders; we are not voting for a president and it is worth underlining that none of those leading the Conservative Party, Labour Party or the Liberal Democrats at the 2015 election are any longer in post. The biggest problem with opinion polls is that they are presented as a predictor of what the result will be, despite all recent evidence to the contrary. By being reported in this way they can be an influence on turnout and how the voter casts their vote because the election or referendum is often being portrayed as a foregone conclusion. Polls rather than policy often become the story. I am asking concerned individuals to call on responsible sections of the media to suspend reporting opinion poll results for a period of five days before election day. This would be a shot in the arm for the democratic process by allowing the discussion to be about policy and principles and not about polls. The media needs to be about more than partisanship and entertainment if it is to contribute to a healthy and representative democracy.

Current planning law states that if a developer will make less than 20% profit on a new development, they can ignore a council's regulations about building affordable and social housing. Leaked documents from several developers have shown that the maths they use to work out their profit margins are purposefully misleading, allowing them to claim they will make less than 20% profit on a development by undervaluing the prices of the houses they will sell and over-costing the labour. To combat this Islington, Greenwich, Lambeth and Bristol councils have introduced a policy that forces developers "viability assessments" to be made public. By bringing these dodgy maths into the public domain, Councils, campaigning groups and individuals will be able to hold developers to account and force them to use more honest maths. ___________ As a recent graduate taking my first steps in my career, I'm considering long term housing rather than long term renting. Many like me are doing the same in Birmingham, but sadly we may be being cheated of feasible means of settling in our nation's second city. Bottom lines left unchecked don't add up to fair societies. Let's hold companies accountable to their legal responsibilities in required affordable housing. -Sam, Campaigner

It's important to allow easy acces for UK voters to vote in a way that fits around modern life. It's also important that if we open up this access that we get a clear understanding of the pledges each party are making so that voters can make a truly informed decision that aligns with people's values and principles for the UK should be run.

2015 saw 1.5 million 16 and 17 year olds were denied their democratic right to vote in a referendum which impacts this generation the most. June the 8th of 2017 the U.K. will see a general election and a repeat of young people being denied a voice. Lowering the voting age will help the UKs voter turnout deficit. Giving 16-17 year olds the opportunity to cast their vote will help create manifestos which are targeted not only to the older generation but also to the younger generation.

An escalation of hostilities could result in a nuclear war that would kill thousands of innocent people with no tangible outcome.

We as the British public must be able to make an informed choice of who we want to lead the country into the Brexit negotiations.

The best way to put a case to the British electorate is through broadcast debate, with evidence showing huge ratings for previous broadcasts. Politicians should work to maximise the political engagement of the electorate and so should put in place a process to ensure that televised debates become a standard practice in the British general election cycle.

The people of the UK are becoming more and more disenfranchised with the democracy of our country. Less and less people are voting and more and more people are complaining about the Government we have. From statistics from the last two General Elections, more people have not used their vote than have voted for the winning party. Things need to change. Nobody believes politicians anymore, because manifesto promises are regularly not being kept to and are being used simply as a gateway to get into power. This petition is to call for this to be rectified, no longer should manifesto's be interesting reading that can be simply discarded by the people that wrote it once the election is over. It is time to give these documents defined and concrete meaning. A break of a manifesto promise by the Government should mean that a General Election is called immediately. The breaking of a manifesto promise is a default on an agreement and the basis upon which the Government is put into power. Additionally to this, all manifesto's should have to be fact checked under meticulous scrutiny by a independent organisation to ensure that that promises made within manifestos are based on accurate and valid information. Only with this change to law, can we have a true democracy again, with people that believe in their power to vote and believe in the vote they make.