As Prime Minister Theresa May continues to make heavy concessions to the European Union, a public petition demanding the country simply walks away from the negotiations and leaves immediately has passed 100,000 signatures.
“The EU looks set to offer us a punishment deal out of spite,” the petition observes.
“Why wait another 18 months when we could leave right away and fully take back control of our country, lawmaking powers and borders?”
The petition received a surge of new signatories after the Prime Minister agreed to a hefty financial settlement, a lengthy transition period after Brexit during which little will actually change, continuing powers for the Court of Justice of the European Union in Britain, and “full regulatory alignment” with the bloc’s Single Market and Customs Union — in exchange for Brussels simply agreeing to begin talking about a trade agreement.
UK Independence Party leader Henry Bolton welcomed the petition’s success, saying it was “great news, and it shows that despite the efforts of the switch back Labour Party and a handful of malcontent Tory backbenchers that ordinary people of this country are still determined to get the Brexit they voted for.”
Bolton suggested that the petition reaching the 100,000 signature landmark showed “the level of frustration outside the elite bubble in Westminster.”
He added: “What is important now is that the media in this country, so keen to report any doubts over Brexit, give equal prominence to this successful petition, a petition created by an ordinary working man from Chesterfield with no political history, which had no funding or political support until it hit the 60,000 mark on Thursday.
“Too often the voice and ambitions of the 17.4 million who voted to Leave have been ignored whilst the Prime Minister and her officials waste time and energy in negotiating defeat”.
Petitions which reach 100,000 signatures are supposed to be considered for a full parliamentary debate, and UKIP’s Gerard Batten MEP said he hopes any debate which does materialise will be about “ditching Article 50 and leaving on our terms, not the EU’s”.
The Government has issued an official response to the petition which does not actually address the request to leave the EU immediately directly, but claims a “smooth and orderly exit” will be delivered, while promising to understand that “there must be no attempts to remain inside the EU, no attempts to rejoin it through the back door, and no second referendum.”
The petition will remain open for signatures until March 2018; view it and the Government’s response to it in full here.
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