Guernsey’s main anti-GST petition has reached more than 8,000 signatures, according to organisers.

But is that enough for the States to take it seriously, or is fair to write them off as a small but vocal minority?

There’s no official threshold in Guernsey for when a petition becomes big enough for the States to take notice.

But other places do have them – and they give some useful context.

What would happen in Jersey?

In Jersey, which has a population of around 104,500 compared with Guernsey’s roughly 65,000, an online petition reaching 1,000 signatures triggers a formal response from ministers.

St. Helier, Jersey - November 30, 2024: The States Building, meeting place of the States Assembly, the elected Parliament of Jersey, St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands.
Pictured: In Jersey any petition with 5,000 figures must be considered for a debate by the States Assembly.

At 5,000, it is considered for debate by the States Assembly – 4.8% of the population.

On Saturday morning the anti-GST petition had 8,237 signatures, just over 12.5% of ours, as well as 203 from local businesses, according to organisers.

So it has already surpassed Jersey’s threshold for consideration of a parliamentary debate – despite Guernsey having a population around 40% smaller.

A UK perspective

The UK, of course, is quite a bit bigger than either of the two main Channel Islands.

With around 70 million people, a petition reaching 10,000 signatures gets a Government response, while 100,000 signatures means it is considered for debate in Parliament.

That 100,000 figure represents only around 0.14% of the UK’s population.

Guernsey’s 8,237 signatures represent about 12.66% of the entire population.

So, if a petition in the UK attracted signatures from the same proportion of its population, it would need roughly 8.8 million signatures.

Big Ben with Houses of Parliament and Westminster bridge in autumn, London, UK
Pictured: In the UK, national petitions need to reach 100,000 to be considered for debate – just 0.14% of the population, while local ones need to be signed by 5% of the electorate.

And there is another useful comparison.

Under UK local government rules, a petition signed by 5% of the local electorate can trigger a referendum on certain governance arrangements.

The Guernsey petition has already passed that 5% mark when measured against the island’s total population.

And if you look at the electorate, the percentage is even higher.

At the last general election in 2025, 27,316 people registered to vote – so 8,237 people represents up to 30.11% of registered voters (though some people who could vote won’t have registered, so the real percentage would be lower).

Either way, in a UK town of an equivalent size, the local council would legally have no choice but to take the petition seriously.

Pictured: Piled up the signed petitions are nearly 5 inches tall.

So, what does 8,237 signatures tell us?

It doesn’t tell us that most voters oppose GST.

A petition isn’t a referendum, and people who sign one are self-selecting.

But it does tell us that thousands of people have actively put their names to the same political demand.

There is no Guernsey rule saying that the government must act on a petition, whatever the size.

But in jurisdictions which do set thresholds for official responses or debate, 12.5% of the population and 30% of registered voters would already be well into the territory where the government would be expected to take a petition seriously.

And the number is still rising.