Petition To Revoke Article 50 & Remain In EU Hits 2 Million Signatures, As Brexit Date Nears
With just days until the deadline for Brexit hits, British Prime Minister Theresa May still doesn’t have an agreed upon deal with the European Union. As panic starts to mount with March 29 looming, a petition has been doing the rounds to revoke Article 50 and opt instead to remain in the EU.
According to the BBC, that petition actually crashed the British parliament’s website, and already has over 2 million signatures, making it the fastest growing petition in history. Parliament later tweeted to say the “rate of signatures was the highest the site has ever had to deal with.”
“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. A People’s Vote may not happen — so vote now,” the petition states.
It’s not completely outside the realm of possibility that Article 50 could be revoked. Aside from the over 2 million members of the British public who think it’s a good idea, its popularity is also growing among MPs in the U.K., as the entire plan to leave becomes less and less clear.
Per New Statesman, the last week seems to have initiated a change of heart among many MPs, who, up until recently, were keen to leave. Now, many of them seem to think revoking Article 50 is possibly the best way forward.
After claiming she was on the side of the people last night she's ignoring them tonight. https://t.co/IXmXlEUAZe
— The New European – Think Without Borders (@TheNewEuropean) March 21, 2019
“A second referendum will cause huge political damage and might not stop Brexit. No-deal Brexit causes huge economic damage and huge political damage. Revoking at the last minute just causes huge political damage,” one MP explained of their agreement with the option to revoke Article 50.
So far, the EU has agreed to move the deadline of March 29 to a later date to give Britain more time to come up with a suitable deal, and May has repeatedly stated she will not be revoking Article 50 because it would damage public trust.
“The PM has long been clear that failing to deliver on the referendum result would be a failure of democracy and a failure she wouldn’t countenance.”
But with fast-growing support from both the British public and her own MPs, will May be forced to give in and just accept this “failure”? May is sticking by her guns at this point, ignoring the petition as she plods along to what will likely end up being a no-deal Brexit.
Reports indicate that at one point in the past 24 hours, there were as many as 2,000 signatures per minute being penned on the petition, which is apparently what caused the website to crash at one point. It would appear that most of the signatures are coming from Bristol, Edinburgh, Manchester, Oxford, London, Cambridge, and Brighton.
