Article 50 petition reveals big divides

More than six million signatures have now been added to the petition to revoke Article 50 – but a breakdown of the data shows striking geographical and political variations.

Of the top 50 constituencies with the highest proportion of constituents to have signed the petition, more than half, 27, are in London and seven are in Scotland. Several cities with large university populations – Oxford, Cambridge, Sheffield and Manchester also appear in the top 50.

By contrast the bottom 50 contains just one constituency inlondon(dagenham&rainham) and none in Scotland. Instead there are a number of seaside towns (Cleethorpes, Blackpool, Great Yarmouth and Scunthorpe) along with a large spread of industrial areas in the Midlands and Yorkshire, including Wolverhampton, Walsall, Stoke-on-trent and Bradford.

As of 1pm yesterday, the seat with the highest proportion of constituents to have signed the petition is Bristol West (26.6 per cent), whose MP is Labour’s Thangam Debbonaire, followed by Brighton Pavilion (25.8 per cent).

At the other end of the list is Walsall North (2 per cent).