A million Brits sign petition to stay in EU bloc
london — More than one million people have rushed to sign a petition on the British parliament’s website calling for the government to revoke its divorce notice to the European Union and remain in the bloc.
Attracting thousands of signatures every few minutes, the petition took off in the hours after Prime Minister Theresa May made a televised address to the country late on Wednesday, criticising squabbling lawmakers for failing to agree an exit strategy and telling parliament to make a final choice.
“It is high time we made a decision,” May said, telling Britons: “I am on your side.”
EU leaders will tell May on Thursday she can have two months to organise an orderly Brexit but Britain could face a disruptive ejection from the bloc next Friday if she fails to win backing from parliament.
More than 17 million Britons voted in favour of leaving the EU in a 2016 referendum while 16 million voted to remain, with May serving notice of the UK’s intent to leave under Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty the following year.
The “Revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU” petition had attracted 1,000,128 signatures by 1450 GMT, backed by support on social media, although the site appeared to be regularly crashing due to the large numbers trying to sign.
“The government repeatedly claims exiting the EU is ‘the will of the people’. We need to put a stop to this claim by proving the strength of public support now, for remaining in the EU,” the petition said. —
What matters is that we recognise that Brexit is the decision of the British people. We need to deliver on that.
Theresa May, British PM