THE British government on Saturday formally rejected a petition signed by more than 4.125 million people calling for a second referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. “We the undersigned call upon HM [Her Majesty’s] government to implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60 per cent based a turnout less than 75 per cent there should be another referendum,” the petition said.

On June 23, on a 72 per cent turnout, 52 per cent voted in favour of Britain leaving the European Union. When a petition on parliament’s website tops 100,000 signatures, the Petitions Committee considers it for a parliamentary debate. More than 77,000 fraudulent signatures were removed from the EU referendum petition.

In its response, the government said no minimum turnout threshold was set when the EU Referendum Act passed through parliament. It said that Prime Minister David Cameron had made clear to parliament on June 27 that the referendum was “one of the biggest democratic exercises in British history” with more than 33 million people voting. “The prime minister and government have been clear that this was a once in a generation vote and, as the prime minister has said, the decision must be respected,” the Foreign Office said on behalf of the government.

“We must now prepare for the process to exit the EU and the government is committed to ensuring the best possible outcome for the British people in the negotiations.” Around 2,000 people gathered at the ‘More In Common Picnic Against Brexit’ in London’s Green Park, which is next to Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II’s official residence, on Saturday.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2016