More than 3 million people have signed a petition calling for a second referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union.
But were all of those millions of people British citizens or UK residents, who are eligible to sign?
Officials are investigating whether some of the votes could have been rigged after website data showed more than 39,000 signatories were from the Vatican City, despite the tiny country having a population of 800. Others appeared to come from North Korea, where internet is heavily censored. Now the government’s Petitions Committee is investigating the petition for evidence of fraud, saying any invalid signatures would be removed.
Well isn”t it funny! I didn”t realise these countries now existed in the UK #Brexitpic.twitter.com/ZIsZIIrrsX
‘People adding fraudulent signatures to this petition should know that they undermine the cause they pretend to support, chairwoman of the committee Helen Jones said in a statement.
‘It is clear that this petition is very important to a substantial number of people. The Petitions Committee will be considering the petition at its meeting next week, and will decide whether or not to schedule a debate on it.’
It is unclear exactly how widespread the problem is but some shared messages on Twitter urging people to sign the petition with a fake postcode even if they had no legitimate connection to the UK.
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The Leave supporter who originally started the petition last month has
His work has been ‘hijacked’ by the Bremainers, he said.
Another man possibly wondering if their words backfired is Nigel Farage, who claimed before the referendum that if the result was as close as 52-48 there should be a re-run.
The petition is the most-signed ever on the government’s website, so however many names are removed it probably won’t have a problem making it over the 100,000 threshold for debate in Parliament.
How do government petitions work?
- You create a petition. Only British citizens and UK residents can create or sign a petition.
- You get 5 people to support your petition.
- The Petitions Committee reviews all published petitions. They have the power to press for action from government or Parliament.
- At 10,000 signatures you get a response from the government.
- At 100,000 signatures your petition will be considered for a debate in Parliament.
Source: gov.uk.
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