The British government yesterday formally rejected a petition signed by more than 4.125 million people calling for a second referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.
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The petition had been the most popular ever published on the Government’s website, with record numbers signing up and crashing the site within hours of its appearance.
The EU Referendum Act, passed in 2015, “did not set a threshold for the result or for minimum turnout”, the Government responded under the petition, adding that “we must now prepare for the process to exit the EU”.
Britons voted by 52 to 48 percent – or 17.4 million votes to 16.1 million – to leave the European Union in last month’s referendum.
British government petitions which reach over 100,000 signatures must be considered for debate in parliament.
But one constitutional expert has suggested that Brexit may need a second referendum, as well as Parliamentary approval, in order to go ahead.
But in the wake of the Brexit vote, the majority of his MPs backed a vote of no-confidence in him last month.
The formal rejection for requisition to initiate a revote was accompanied by a clear message that was sent through an email to each and every person who had signed the online petition.
The result say prime minister David Cameron fall on his own sword, with his place now being hotly contested by Conservative MPs Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom.
The petition was set up by William Oliver Healey, an English Democrat activist who supported Brexit and was concerned the vote would be for Remain.
May was an advocate of the STAY vote prior to the referendum but not key to the campaign’s vote.
The referendum turnout was 72.2 percent, according to the Electoral Commission.
The petition, at www.petition.parliament.uk, was created actually on May 24 and, at the time of the European Union referendum result, it had 22 signatures.
In its official response to signatories, the Foreign Office said the law which had set the rules for the referendum did not specify minimum conditions on turnout or margin of victory.
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The committee also was verifying signatures and already has thrown out 77,000 fraudulent ones.
