EU referendum re-run petition signed by more than 2.5m Britons

More than 2.5 million people have signed a petition calling for a second EU referendum, after the vote to leave.

It has more signatures than any other on the parliamentary website and as it has passed 100,000, Parliament will consider it for a debate.

The UK voted to leave the EU by 52% to 48% in Thursday’s referendum but the majority of voters in London, Scotland and Northern Ireland backed Remain.

David Cameron has previously said there will be no second referendum.

On Friday he said he would stand down as prime minister by October following the leave result.

A House of Commons spokeswoman said the petition was created on 24 May. There were 22 signatures on it at the time the referendum result was announced.

She said the petition site had temporarily gone down at one point following “exceptionally high volumes of simultaneous users on a single petition, significantly higher than on any previous occasion”.

Raise profile

The petition’s website states it was set up by an individual called William Oliver Healey, and says: “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.”

Thursday saw a 72.2% turnout, significantly higher than the 66.1% turnout at last year’s general election, but below the 75% mark suggested by Mr Healey as a threshold.

The Scottish independence referendum in 2014 had a turnout of 84.6% – but there has not been a turnout above 75% at any general election since 1992.

A debate in Parliament is a good way to raise the profile of an issue with law makers but it does not automatically follow that there will be a change in the law.

source: BBC