A petition to revoke Article 50 – and halt Brexit for good – hit 1 million signatures and that number’s only growing.
The question of Brexit has plagued British politics since the referendum in 2016. Now, as Theresa May plans to leave divorce the UK from the EU by April, a petition has reared its head and proven extremely popular. Started by Margaret Anne Georgiadou on February 14, it reached one million signatures in record time and that number is swiftly growing. The aim? Simple: to stop Brexit.
Put It To The People
After reaching its first million the day after being set up, that number has continued to rise to reach over five and a half million (I’m watching it grow while I write). The frenzied signing managed to actually crash the parliamentary petitions site which you can see in this video:
The signing was further bolstered by protests in London. The “Put It To The People” campaign was allegedly joined by over a million people who rallied in front of Parliament. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, commented:
This isn’t the first time a Parliamentary petition has been so popular. Back in 2017, a petition aiming to prevent Donald Trump making a UK state visit reached 1,863,708 signatures. On the other hand, a pro-Brexit petition is slowly grinding its way to 600,000 signatures.
But Will It Stop Brexit?
Despite this massive outpouring of support, Theresa May seems committed to taking the UK out of the EU, even if it means a no-deal Brexit. This could have severe consequences for Northern Ireland. The province shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland and the only thing keeping that border open is, you guessed it, the UK staying in European Union. The issue of the backstop has been a real thorn in May’s side, although it’s being ignored by a lot of Brexiteers.
No matter what course May takes, the petition has shown that people have been doing a lot of thinking since 2016. Even if there’s no second referendum, people will tell the government what they want.
If you want to hear more about the madness that is Brexit check this out. A leave voter may have just shot the Brexit campaign in the foot.
