Sir Michael Caine has divided opinion after sharing a petition calling for a new general election.
The 91-year-old British actor, whose film credits include Get Carter, Alfie and The Italian Job, linked to the petition set up by those disillusioned by Keir Starmer’s first four months as prime minister.
Despite the futile nature of the petition, Caine threw his backing behind the idea by sharing a link to the petition on X/Twitter.
The synopsis for the petition reads: “I would like there to be another General Election. I believe the current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election.”
Labour won a landslide victory in the general election back in July after a campaign that saw Starmer promise voters change. He said he would give Britain “the sunlight of hope” it needed after 14 years of turmoil under the Conservatives.
However, Starmer has recently faced criticism for his decision to scrap winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners – something that has seen him warned that “elderly people are literally going to die”.
In July, when the news was first announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, the government’s official analysis showed that the means testing of winter fuel payments will drive 100,000 additional pensioners into poverty by 2026.
It will strip the payments, worth up to £300, from around 10 million pensioners, driving 50,000 more into relative poverty next year, followed by another 50,000 in the following years.
Caine’s sharing of the petition has led to a divisive response from his followers. While others who are frustrated with Labour after the party’s victory concurred with his belief, many noted not only the futility of sharing such a petition, but the fact that Caine has often voted Conservative in the past.
“This doesn’t surprise me,” one social media responded to Caine’s post.
At the time of writing, the petition has amassed more than two million signatures.
Caine, who was a supporter of Brexit and maintained his position despite issues surrounding the UK’s supply chain, said of former PM Boris Johnson: “Oh, I supported him. I thought he was great. But now I’m very disappointed in him. He made a big mistake there, going to Marbella. Let’s see if when he comes back he can settle it all. Otherwise we might have a socialist government.”
In 2019, Caine reiterated his belief that Brexit was a good decision.
The actor stated that he thinks it’s important for the UK to be in charge of their own future even if it means being poorer.
Speaking on the Today show, he said: “People say ‘Oh, you’ll be poor, you’ll be this, you’ll be that’. I say I’d rather be a poor master of my fate than having someone I don’t know making me rich by running it.”
The actor claimed that fears of a no-deal Brexit were a result of scare tactics.
“What I see is I’m being ruled by people I don’t know, who no one elected, and I think of that as fascist,“ he said, adding: ”In the long run, though, it’ll come around.”
Starmer told BBC Radio Lincolnshire in response to the winter fuel payment furore: “At the moment, until we bring in the changes, the allowance is paid to everyone, irrespective of whether they need it or not.
“A lot of pensioners will say ‘I don’t actually need it’, and I had to answer what difficult decisions we can make to ensure we use our money most effectively.”
He also urged those eligible for pension credits to ensure they take them up.
