Brexit
petition passes 2.5 million as demand for second EU referendum grows
Political
experts have expressed doubts that a second vote will take place
Will Worley, Lizzie
Dearden
More than two and a
half million people have signed a petition demanding a second EU
referendum after an MP called for Parliament to refuse to ratify
Brexit.
Signatories are
calling for a new rule to be implemented stipulating that polls on
the European Union with a majority under 60 per cent and turnout
under 75 per cent must be re-started.
However, no such
rule or convention currently exists and political experts have said a
second vote would be out of the question.
According to
Professor Vernon Bogdanor, a prominent constitutional expert, a
second referendum is "highly unlikely".
“I don’t think
the EU will wish to bargain any further, they will take this vote as
final,” he told The Telegraph.
Another political
scientist, Professor John Curtice, said to the Evening Standard: "How
many people voted in favour of Leave? Seventeen million. One million
is chicken feed by comparison.
"It's no good
people signing the petition now, they should have done it before.
Even then, these petitions don't always mean a great deal."
But the petition is
now likely to be the fastest growing ever and is double the number of
people who wanted Jeremy Clarkson reinstated on BBC TV programme Top
Gear.
Many people,
including David Lammy MP, have quoted Nigel Farage's statement in
which he said a close result would be grounds for a second
referendum.
In May, Mr Farage
had said: "In a 52-48 referendum this would be unfinished
business by a long way. If the remain campaign win two-thirds to
one-third that ends it."
However, Ukip have
rejected the current result as grounds for another plebiscite. A
party source told the Mirror: “Our feeling is that the status quo
often gets a boost and this is the new status quo.
“You’re right,
48-52 is close, however the PM’s gone, the Chancellor’s got to
follow, the whole Project Fear campaign is in disarray and I’m sure
Bob Geldof is crying into his f***ing cornflakes.
“I know there’s
an online petition to have another referendum but I think honestly I
think if people want to go for it a little further down the line it
would be a hiding for nothing.
“We feel that with
this being the new status quo 48-52 might very soon turn into a
larger figure.”
It would be
theoretically possible to for the government to call a second
referendum but very unlikely in reality as those poised to take
charge backed the Leave campaign.
Brexit cannot
actually take place until Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty has been
invoked by the government.
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