60,000 in region call for second Brexit vote

MORE than 60,000 people in Birmingham have signed a petition demanding a second referendum on whether to leave the European Union.

And the petition has been signed by more than four million people across the country.

It said that the referendum result should not be valid unless at least 75 per cent of eligible voters take part – and at least 60 per cent of voters back the option either of leaving or remaining.

In the EU referendum on June 23, turnout was 72.2 per cent. And the proportion voting to leave the EU was 51.9 per cent, with 48.1 per cent voting to stay.

The petition was launched before the EU vote, but most of signatures come from people who signed it after the referendum took place.

In practice, if the Government agreed to the petition’s demands it would mean that the referendum result was declared invalid and a new vote would take place.

It has already become the most popular petition ever on the official Commons petitions website, with more signatures than any other.

And it prompted a House of Commons debate.

But the Government has made it clear it has no intention of holding a fresh ballot.

In an official response, a Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said: “The referendum was one of the biggest democratic exercises in British history with over 33 million people having their say.

“The Prime Minister and Government have been clear that this was a once in a generation vote and, as the Prime Minister has said, the decision must be respected.

“We must now prepare for the process to exit the EU and the Government is committed to ensuring the best possible outcome for the British people in the negotiations.”

Theresa May , the Prime Minister, has made it clear that she plans to push ahead with Article 50, the mechanism for leaving the European Union, without a vote in Parliament.

She has also said that leaving the EU will give the UK “some control” over EU migration, suggesting that the restrictions on EU migration might be limited.

Speaking at a press conference during the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, Mrs May said: “What we will now have an ability to do, which we haven’t had before, is when we come out of the EU, we will be able to have some control on movement of people coming from the EU into the UK, which of course was one element over which we weren’t able to have control before.”