British Cabinet Rejects Petition Calling for Second EU Referendum

The British government rejected a petition signed by more than 4.1 million citizens calling for the holding of a second referendum on the UK's membership to the EU.

The petition gathered popularity after the results of the referendum on UK's membership to the EU held in June showed that 51.9 % of British voters had supported Brexit.

This was the petition with the largest number of signatures since the process was introduced in 2011, The Independent informs.

In addition to this, government petitions with more than 100 000 signatures must be considered for debate in parliament.

In an official reply sent by email on Friday to those backing the petition, the Foreign Office said that more than 33 million people had cast their ballot in the referendum and their decision had to be respected.

As it was once in a generation vote, the government had to respect the outcome and prepare the withdrawal of the UK from the EU.

The government expressed commitment to achieve the best possible outcome for the British people in the negotiations.

The petition, which had been initiated before the holding of the referendum, called on the government to annul the results as neither the “Remain” nor “Leave” options garnered 60 % of the votes and the voter turnout was below 75 %.

However the government said that the EU Referendum Act did not set out threshold for the result or for minimum turnout.

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