“Revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU” Petition

I would hazard a guess that lots of people, who have signed this petition, were not eligible to vote in the Referendum, either by virtue of not living in this country or not being a British citizen.

Why do you think they would even bother to do that then?

Apart, of course, from the British citizens living in the EU who were disenfranchised by length of residence but would actually be directly affected by Brexit. Or EU citizens living in the UK who are also directly affected.

Hmm... as there are about 5 million of these perhaps they've every single one of them decided to sign (including those Brits abroad who voted Leave) and it's a pure illusion that people like me and my friends and family have signed...

You lot are really trying hard, aren't you....

well if you don't believe this petition is 100% genuine - did you see the march yesterday? Do you think all those people, from all over the UK, all ages, all walks of life, families - were Russian imposters? Really?

suzied about the woman from a Cypriot background, working and living in UK - are you surprised by some of the comments- when you see some of the comments aimed at me, because I am not UK born and bred- and 'only' lived in the UK, working, raising children, contributing, for 40 years.

Quizqueen asks "where is the leave-means-leave petition?"

I can tell you that this petition, started last October has just reached 520,273 signatures.

In contrast the "Revoke Article 50" petition, started about a month ago, has exceeded 5,106,682 signatures.

I have absolutely no problem with anyone going on a march or signing a petition, lots of people are annoyed about brexit for all sorts of reasons.
But. The only people who’s votes matter are the people who are eligible to vote in the UK.
The world & his wife can sign the petition, but it means nothing in reality.

The ‘leave means leave petition’ isn’t getting attention because the vast majority of leavers know we’re leaving, so why sign a petition?
Things will change if it looks like brexit isn’t going to hapoen. But we’re no where near that point.

They do not want to be dragged into what could potentially amount to an economic suicide pact

Suicide pact? Scaremongering or what?

Why will the UK flounder outside the EU? It will wobble, initially then adjust, but we are not going to stagnate/dive bomb financially because we are no longer tied to Brussels, are we?

We look at things differently.

Leavers do not want to be stuck with (and finance, to the tune of £40billion a year of taxpayers money) what appears to be an institution so fragmented on the one hand and driven by egotistical ministers (say French and German, for example) who are beset with serious social and financial troubles in their own countries member states.

This weekend, talking with friends about the march we realised there were serious internal problems in Poland, Italy, France, Greece, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Austria, etc, etc

To extricate ourselves from that I see as a lucky escape. Many believe the EU will fracture and break in the not too distant future.

Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Sweden are among those EU countries with prevalent eurosceptic parties

Critics charge that EU decision making processes remain extremely complex, lack transparency, and are too slow and unwieldy

Others note that differences in viewpoint are inevitable among so many countries and that decisions thus take time in what remains a largely consensus-based institution.

The EU maintains that the enlargement door remains open to any European country that fulfills the political and economic criteria for membership. (Ye Gods!)

Since 2003, the EU has recognized and welcomed the EU aspirations of all the countries of the Western Balkans. At the same time, some European leaders and public worry about the implications of additional EU expansion on the EU’s institutional capacities, its finances, and its overall identity.

Observers suggest that should the EU ultimately enlarge to encompass an even wider array of countries, further integration in the economic and financial fields may be unlikely, and forging a common foreign policy could become extremely difficult

Others contend that EU enlargement is already reaching its limits, both geographically and in terms of public enthusiasm for further expansion

Above, some of the reasons why people have doubts about the long-term future of the EU.

Kandinsky claims "The world & his wife can sign the petition, but it means nothing in reality".

Official figures show 96% of signatures are from the UK and the others mainly from countries abroad where many British ex-pats live,

They might live in the UK but are not eligible to vote so in an election you can count them out, also expats not all of them will be able to vote.

varian
Official figures show 96% of signatures are from the UK and the others mainly from countries abroad where many British ex-pats live,
Strange isnt it how so many people are shouting foul play over (alleged) external influences affecting our voting system, yet when there are thousands outside UK completing a petition to try to influence a democratic decision...well that is okay.
I lived overseas many years. My UK friends and colleagues always kept a close eye on 'home' affairs. We all knew we could not vote in UK elections and accepted this because what right had we to try and influence politically what went on at home when we were not living there.
Most of us had a very skewed impression of UK when being viewed from a distance. It looked a scary bad place which was nothing like 99% of the country actually is. The thing was we only saw the sensationalist or bad news that the news channels like to pump.

I met two people on the march who lived in the UK but were not eligible to vote because they were Italian citizens.

One was a woman in her fifties who had come here at the age of eighteen to attend a British university, subsequently qualified as a medical scientist and decided to stay here. She told me that many of the EU citizens working in her field had already left the UK or were planning to leave because of the threat of brexit.

The other was her daughter, who appeared to be in her twenties. She had been born in the UK and lived here all her life but was still an Italian citizen. She was incensed that she was expected to apply for permission to continue living here, fill in forms and pay a lot of money for the privilege.

Neither of these ladies were entitled to vote in that fraudulent referendum. Both have worked and paid taxes in the UK for many years. Whatever happened to that cornerstone of democracy "no taxation without representation"?

Why shouldn’t people who are going to be affected by the result have a vote? No good reason.

Joelsnan

I don't think you need to worry about democracy. In the highly unlikely event that the petition is listened to, the petition itself will not overturn Brexit.
The very most that it could lead to is that the people would be consulted again to see if they still wish to go ahead with the withdrawal, and on what terms. That would be 100% democratic, with absolutely no Russians, Greeks or any other meddling foreigners allowed to vote

We would have to hope that absolutely no Russians, or other foreign billionaires or tax exiles would be able to influence the vote again. That malign influence would be difficult to prevent, but it must be done. We cannot allow our democracy to be high-jacked again as it was in 2016.

varian
I met two people on the march who lived in the UK but were not eligible to vote because they were Italian citizens.
Are they able to vote in Italy?

Strange isnt it how so many people are shouting foul play over (alleged) external influences affecting our voting system, yet when there are thousands outside UK completing a petition to try to influence a democratic decision..

How many times do you have to be told, Joelsnan that there are thousands of Brits not currently in the UK who are eligible to vote. On holiday, working abroad, living abroad for fewer than 20 years... All absolutely entitled to a say in UK democracy. And, 4% of 5 million+ is a very small number...

MaizieD
Thank you for your condescending concern in reminding me of ex-pat and holiday voting positions.
Having been an ex-pat for many years, I am well aware of who and who may not vote.
I fortunately understand the voting system which you apparently don't as you cannot vote in UK political elections if you have been out of the UK for more than 15 years. The criteria for local, EU and referenda is different.
I am happy for you to keep reminding of your errors should you choose to.

Kandinsky, my son, married to an EU citizen and living with his family in an EU country was eligible to vote in the referendum but because of the incompetence of his previous local authority did not get his postal vote in time. He should have been allowed a say . If he is decides to sign the petition and is able to, though I don’t know what he would put as his postcode which is a requirement, I think that would be fair as he will be very much affected by the outcome.

And thank you, Joelsnan for your narky response to an entirely different point from the one I was replying to. Try reading the quote, in my post,from your post (in italics) again.

Apologies for getting the 15 year thing wrong.

Weird that those who say the petition is rigged / influenced by foreigners are deny that the referendum was based on lies/ influenced by foreigners.

Nandalot
Indeed.

You know I think I’ll bow out of brexit threads on GN ( although it is the main subject on here by the look of things ) I don’t want to spend my time here arguing with other lovely grans.
Whatever happens with brexit, we all have to try and get along ( for the good of our blood pressure if nothing else )

For the doubters

I know someone who is a very highly regarded and paid international tech security expert. Bots etc is within their field of expertise

They have been contacted by the main uk news sources asking their professional opinion on the legitimacy of this petition.

The news outlets obviously didnt get the answer they were hoping for: a scoop about russian bots or similar, so have not quoted this expert in the field because they answer they gave them was that this petition is in fact legit.

MaizieD
How many times do you have to be told, Joelsnan
And this is not condescending? I think my response appropriate.

Why do people find it so incomprehensible that 5million+ people would be anti Brexit enough to sign this petition? We don't need Bots to do it for us.