The e-petitions sent to government that get rejected

Chris Mason reads out some of the petitions that never made it to parliament

By Tom Bateman
Reporter

Flood the Channel Tunnel. Ban cats from going outdoors. Bring back fish and chips wrapped in newspaper.

These are three demands - all rejected - from users of the government's e-petitions service.

Petitions gaining more than 100,000 signatures can be considered for a debate in parliament.

While some petitions - like Jamie Oliver's petition to tax sugary drinks - can make it all the way into law, others aren't quite so successful.

But what the Petitions Committee gives to Jamie Oliver, it takes away from may others, rejecting petitions that fall foul of its standards - set out in full here.

Here's a quick run through some of the most common reasons petitions never make it:

Petitions about something that the UK Government or Parliament is not responsible for:

A petition asking for the programme Emmerdale to apologise which says "Emmerdale are currently airing a story line where Ross is stealing people's dogs for the ransom."Government e-petitions

ITV's Emmerdale proved too controversial for one petitioner - but the government isn't responsible for the storyline.

A petition calling for fish and chips to be wrapped in newspaper again.Government e-petitions

The government can't wrap your takeaway for you.

Petitions that aren't clear about what they want the government to do:

A petition asking the prime minister to reveal the truth about aliens.
A petition saying the Arctic Monkeys' first album is their best.

Petitions about a purely personal issue:

A petition asking for railway companies to enforce quietness of the quiet coach
A petition asking for direct flights to Sibiu in Romania because it's not convenient to go via Luton.

Petitions asking for an honour or appointment:

The Petitions Committee can't nominate someone for an honour - there's already a system in place for members of the public to nominate people directly.

A petition asking for Ozzy osborne to be knighted.
A petition asking for Barack Obama to be made the prime minister of the UK

Also rejected, a series of petitions about raccoons:

A petition from a raccoon owner asking to Change the EU's IAS regulation that stops listed animals going for walks.

Raccoon petitions were rejected because the complaints were about EU rules - at least until Brexit

A petition from the owner of a raccoon asking to change the EU's IAS regulation that stops listed animals going for walks.
A petition calling for raccoons to be renamed 'trash pandas'

There's hope for some petitioners though - this petition calling for police horses and dogs to be given the same legal protections as their human colleagues will be debated in parliament's Westminster Hall on 14 November.

Petition to class police dogs and horses as police officers.

The most popular e-petitions ever cover some slightly less unusual subjects.

The petition with the most signatures - over four million of them - called on the government to hold a second EU membership referendum if either Leave or Remain were backed by less than 60% of voters and saw a turnout of less than 75%.

The petition, which attracted a flood of signatures after June's Brexit vote, was debated in September, but there's been no sign of another referendum.

Another petition that gained widespread attention was a call for parliament to ban Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from entering the UK.

It was debated in January 2016. Mr Trump remains free to visit Britain.

Despite these petitions successfully making it into the debating chamber, one member of the public felt Parliament would be better off without having to talk about them:

A petition calling on the government to stop taking petitions "due to the fake petitions that are ruining the government"

No laughing matter.