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Brexit: Petition for second European Union referendum rejected

The referendum saw 17.4 million (51.9%) votes cast to leave the European Union, compared with 16.1 million (48.1%) for remaining part of the bloc, with a turnout of 72.2%, according to the Electoral Commission.

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The email said the petition would be considered for a debate by the Petitions Committee because it had received more than 100,000 signatures.

However in an official reply, the Foreign Office said 33 million people had had their say and “the decision must be respected”. Now, it says, the country must “prepare for the process to exit the European Union and the Government is committed to ensuring the best possible outcome for the British people in the negotiations”.

The petition gained more signatures than any other on the parliamentary website in the wake of the vote on 23 June.

The petition, the most-signed since the introduction of the format in 2011, called for a second vote following Brexit on June 24, but the government said it wouldn’t even be debated in parliament.

But numerous “leave” voters apparently quickly regretted their decision when global markets plummeted on the news and experts predicted other dire consequences around the exit.

The vote on the so-called Brexit required more than 50 percent of the voters to favor leaving the EU.

The backlash against the vote has been particularly strong among young people, as we reported, with at least 73 percent of voters aged 18-24 wanting to remain in the EU.

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.

“Bregretters” have been discussing a revote since shortly after the referendum votes were tallied, though there is some controversy over how numerous petition’s signatures are genuine.

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The petition was pushing for the Government to effectively “change the rules” (or enact a rule) that could push for another referendum to be held if the vote for “remain” or “leave” was less that sixty percent of the vote and the turnout was less than 75 percent of the country. The petition that was created just a day after the results of the first referendum were declared received a phenomenal response.

UK government rejects 4m-strong petition for 2nd EU vote