With more than 1.8 million signatures, a petition Trump from coming to the UK for a full state visit headlines. But do political petitions really work? at the impact of online social activism on our

kind. And we have reduced the number of signatories needed to make it easier. It is an important part of the democratic process.”

Potentially vexatious petitions are barred but “we allow most things,” says Cllr Cooke.

Despite this, at 10,000 signatories, the threshold for triggering a debate at a full council meeting is still challenging.

For those who petition on an issue relating to a specific district, a more modest 1,000 signatories will get you a debate at what is described as “the most appropriate local meeting”.

Since the start of its petition scheme, there have been 16 debates at county council meetings, but of these just three have reached full council.

And many more – KCC says it does not keep a tally – fall well short of the target. Partly, this seems to be because many are on very particular local issues, such as calling for potholes to be fixed on a local road.

Traffic calming and pedestrian crossings crop up a lot. Even on bigger issues, the numbers can seem modest: a call for plans to scrap a third Thames crossing attracted 628 signatories.

Nationally, as the debate on President Trump’s visit has shown, high-profile issues can gain traction quickly.

But the headlines they generate one week can just as quickly disappear the next or trigger rival petitions that take a contrary view.

Dover businessman Alan Bown set up his own petition to show that not everyone wanted to ban Trump from the UK.

“The initial petition had been launched to prevent him from coming, disinviting him, and I felt that the opposite point of view should be felt so that it’s known that not all of us decry free speech,” he said.

Within a few days, it had passed the 200,000 mark.

Richard Scase, business guru and emeritus Professor of Social Policy at the University of Kent says peti-

Cllr Gary Cooke