Will it be possible to conduct another EU Referendum and UK return to the EU?
A petition calling for a second EU referendum has topped TWO MILLION signatures – more than doubling the highest signed in parliamentary history.
The popular petition, which was started just one day ago, attracted so many signatures when it first opened that the government’s website crashed.
The enormous surge followed the initial 100,000 signatures which were created in a bid to get London Mayor Sadiq Khan to declare the capital as independent.
Protesters are hoping that Khan will call for London to be classed separately from the UK and therefore be able to apply to join the European Union.
he petition, which by Saturday morning was being signed by more than 1,660 a minute – 100,000 an hour, has so far exceeded the number of signatures needed to trigger a debate on the topic in Parliament by 1.9 million.
Eager protesters took to Twitter urging people to sign the petition and assist in calling for a second chance.
One said: “The petition for a second referendum hit one million in just a day. We can do this, guys!”
Another wrote: “The petition for another referendum now has almost 2 million signatures WOW.”
Physicist Brian Cox said: “A rather mischievous question … what happens if over 17 million people sign the petition for a second referendum?”
Broadcaster Mary Portas said: “Please sign. Let’s change this madness.”
The petition was set up by William Oliver Healey who states: “We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the Remain or Leave vote is less than 60% based on a turnout less than 75%, there should be another referendum.”
On Thursday 51.9% of votes were cast to leave the EU, versus 48.1% for remaining part of the bloc.
A map of the signatures indicated that most activity was in England’s major cities.
The highest number of signatories came from London, where most boroughs backed Remain in the referendum.
But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn rejected calls for a second vote.
He said: “The referendum has taken place, a decision has been made, I think we have got to accept that decision and work out our relationship with Europe in the future.
A House of Commons spokeswoman earlier said the site had temporarily been taken out of action on Friday due to “exceptionally high volumes of simultaneous users on a single petition, significantly higher than on any previous occasion.”
“UK Parliament and the Government Digital Service are aware of the issue and are working hard to resolve the problems as quickly as possible.”
The parliamentary petitions system is overseen by the Petitions Committee, who consider whether petitions that receive more than 100,000 signatures should be raised in the house.
The committee is due to sit again on Tuesday.
A separate Change.org petition calling on Mr Khan to instigate the secession of London from the rest of the UK gathered more than 100,000 signatures by Saturday morning.
The page, set up by James O’Malley, stated: “London is an international city, and we want to remain at the heart of Europe.
“Let’s face it – the rest of the country disagrees. So rather than passive aggressively vote against each other at every election, let’s make the divorce official and move in with our friends on the continent.
Oribinal Article By STEVE ROBSON and GEORGIA DIEBELIUS
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