Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out an early general election after a petition calling for a second vote reached two million signatures.

The petition was launched over the weekend and says there should be another vote, just four months after Labour won a landslide, because they have “gone back on their promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election”.

By Monday mid-morning, it had reached two million signatures and was climbing fast.

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But the prime minister said he would not be calling another election.

However, he said he was “not surprised” those who did not want to support Labour wanted a second vote.

“Look, I remind myself that very many people didn’t vote Labour at the last election,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

“I’m not surprised that many of them want a rerun. That isn’t how our system works. There will be plenty of people who didn’t want us in, in the first place.

“So, what my focus is on is the decisions that I have to make every day.”

Petitions on the government website are considered for debate by MPs after 10,000 signatures. Petitions get a government response after the tally reaches 100,000.

Even before Sir Keir ruled one out, an early general election was unlikely as Labour has a large majority and only the prime minister has the power to ask the King to call a general election.

Over the weekend, MPs considered to be from the right of the Tories or from Reform UK, were urging people on social media to sign the petition.

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice and Conservative shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith were among those sharing the petition.

Donald Trump aide Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, reposted a link to a post which said it had got 200,000 signatures in a few hours. He wrote: “Wow.”

Musk has previously spoken out against Sir Keir Starmer, calling him “two-tier Keir” over accusations police were treating communities according to their racial background in different ways.

Some X users have been urging people from all over the world to sign the petition and provided a list of postcodes so they could pretend they were UK voters – a stipulation of being able to sign the petition.

The government has faced a sizeable backlash against some of the policies it has introduced, including inheritance tax on farms, cutting winter fuel payments, raising employers’ national insurance and applying VAT to private school fees.

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The petition was launched by Michael Westwood, the owner of the Wagon and Horses pub in Oldbury in the West Midlands.

He told the Daily Express: “I think people have had enough, people have seen what’s happened over in America as well, and I think that’s had a knock-on effect that, actually, if people stand together and vote then we can make a change.”

The latest Ipsos political pulse poll found the Labour Party is not viewed very well, with 28% of the public holding a favourable view and 49% unfavourable.

Labour’s overall performance since coming into power is ranked as four out of 10.

A majority (56%) said they felt the country is heading in the wrong direction, while two in five Britons said they are worse off since Labour came to power.

East Carolina is set to promote interim coach Blake Harrell to be the school’s next coach, sources told ESPN on Monday.

Harrell is 4-0 since taking over on Oct. 20, and East Carolina is 7-4 overall on the season.

ECU’s board still needs to meet to formally approve a contract for Harrell, sources told ESPN. That meeting is expected to be called in the upcoming days and a decision is expected to be formalized this week, sources said.

East Carolina brass have been impressed with the “contagious energy” that Harrell has brought to the job, as there’s a belief at ECU that the job should be one of the best in the AAC in its current iteration. ECU has a 50,000-seat stadium and a passionate fan base, and the coaching search was centered around someone that could maximize the job.

Harrell has rallied the team with a hands-on style, as he’s scaled back practices to keep players fresh and put a focus on maximizing their experience since taking over.

The players have responded with wins over Temple, Florida Atlantic, at Tulsa and at North Texas.

ECU fell behind 21-0 to UNT on Saturday and stormed back for an emphatic 40-28 win. In the aftermath of that emotional victory, the players amplified their rallying cry to keep Harrell as the head coach.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Katin Houser, who has thrown 13 touchdown passes in Harrell’s four games as interim coach, posted “Wewantharrell” on social media to express his support for Harrell to get the full-time job. Others who went public with their support included veteran tailback Rahjai Harris and senior tackle Parker Moorer.

Harrell, 46, was promoted to interim from his job as East Carolina’s defensive coordinator. He’s got deep rooting in the Carolinas, as he graduated Western Carolina and has an MBA from Lenoir-Rhyne. He coached in high school in North Carolina and began his full-time college coaching career with jobs at Lenoir-Rhyne and The Citadel.

Harrell also had a stint outside the Carolinas at Kennesaw State as the defensive coordinator in 2019, where he had a top-five FCS defense.

Harrell is set to take over for Mike Houston, who was fired in his sixth season after going 27-38. ECU hasn’t won a league title since Skip Holtz led them to a Conference USA crown in 2009,

Harrell’s expected promotion marks the first of the six American Athletic Conference jobs to fill this year. The remaining open jobs are Tulsa, FAU, Rice, Charlotte and Temple.

ECU plays Navy on Saturday to close out the regular season. A win would mark just the second time since 2014 that ECU has won eight games.

Left-handed starter Yusei Kikuchi is in agreement with the Los Angeles Angels on a three-year, $63 million contract, sources confirmed to ESPN on Monday.

Kikuchi, 33, had a great second half to his season last year after being traded from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Houston Astros, compiling a 2.70 ERA in 10 starts.

Overall, he had a 4.05 ERA in 2024, making 32 starts split between the two teams. He made 32 starts in 2023 as well while appearing in 32 games in 2022 and 29 games in 2021. That durability undoubtedly helped secure his current deal with the Angels.

The six-year veteran will be joining his fourth team after breaking into the big leagues with the Seattle Mariners in 2019. His best season came in 2023 when he went 11-6 with a 3.86 ERA for the Blue Jays, helping them make the postseason. His contributions to the Astros last season also helped them reach the postseason, something his new team hasn’t done since 2014.

Kikuchi’s signing adds to a busy offseason for the Angels who already inked another starter, Kyle Hendricks, to a free agent deal. The team also added catcher Travis d’Arnaud via free agency and traded for outfielder Jorge Soler. Los Angeles has been by far the most aggressive team in MLB so far this winter.

MLB Network was the first to report Kikuchi’s signing.