An e-petition has gone live on the '10 Downing Street,' the British Prime Minister's website, aiming to persuade Tony Blair to ensure government complies with basic web accessibility requirements from when they are launched.

One of 892 e-petitions (http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/govaccessibility/), it reads: “We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ensure that any website launched by the government complies with accessibility standards (WCAG AA at least).”

I would urge anyone who is concerned about accessibility in the UK to sign; the process is secure and only takes a couple of minutes.

The petitioner, web designer and member of the Guild of Accessible Web Designers (GAWDS), Ian Fenn, published the plea after discovering the website of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) failed to meet basic accessibility standards despite the department's claims that it reached level AAA according to the Web Accessibility Initiative's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, following a 200,000 pound re-vamp last June.

The last attempt by Clackmannanshire Council web manager Dan Champion and Web Standards Project's Accessibility Task Force member Bruce Lawson to gain information from the DTI using Freedom of Information Law on why the lack of accessibility remained, was refused on the grounds that it would take too long and cost too much money to answer, Champion told E-Access Bulletin.

At the time of writing the plea had been signed by a few hundred people, whose names can be viewed online—I believe that the petition needs a thousand or two signatures to be credible so your name is needed.

The open petitions initiative, which went live last month, from non-profit e-democracy organisation MySociety, allows the British public to start and sign any petition on a range of topics online.

I am indebted to E-Access Bulletin for bringing this petition to my attention.