British Parliament to Debate Petition Calling for Second EU Referendum

EU | July 12, 2016, Tuesday // 18:41|  views

The British parliament will debate a petition signed by more than four million people calling for the holding of a second referendum on the UK's membership to the EU.

The debate in the House of Commons is scheduled to take place on September 5.

The Commons Petitions Committee confirmed the record-breaking petition will be subject to debate in parliament, The Independent informed on Thursday.

A spokesperson of the committee said that the large number of people signing the petition necessitated its debate in parliament. However the spokesperson made it clear that the committee in no way supports the holding of a second referendum.

The debate will allow MPs to express a range of viewpoints on behalf of their constituents, with a government minister to respond to the issues raised at the end of the debate.

Since the debate in parliament does not have the authority to decide whether a second referendum should be held, it will be up to the government to take the decision.

Last week, the government rejected the call for a second referendum. In an official reply sent by email to people who had signed the petition, the Foreign Office said that the outcome of the referendum should be respected and the country should prepare for Brexit.

The petition, which had been launched before the outcome of the referendum, calls for annulling the results as neither of the two options garnered more than 60 % and voter turnout was below 75 %.

The petition gathered popularity immediately after the outcome of the referendum on UK's membership to the EU held in June in which 51.9 % of voters had supported Brexit.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron, who resigned immediately after the outcome of the referendum, is expected to be succeeded to the position by Theresa May on Wednesday.

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Tags: UK, EU, Referendum, Brexit, David Cameron, theresa may, House of Commons

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