UK lawmakers discuss halting Brexit as petition hits 6 million

Members of the British parliament on Monday debated halting the Brexit deal after a petition seeking its reversal received a record six million signatures.

The petition is calling for the government to revoke Article 50, the mechanism that governs Britain’s departure from the European Union (EU).

In 2016, Britons voted to leave the EU with a majority vote of 52% as against 48% who were not in favour of the deal.

The following year, British Prime Minister Theresa May gave notice of the intent to leave the bloc on March 29 under Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty.

May has failed on three occasions to pass her EU withdrawal Agreement, forcing a delay to Brexit till April 12.

This led to call for the exit to be cancelled altogether.

The online petition to revoke Article 50 took off after May said she was on the side of the British public over Brexit.

According to the parliament’s official petitions committee, the site crashed on Thursday–a day to the planned exit–after receiving the highest-ever number of signatures.

“This petition has been supported by an unprecedented number of people, although it is not surprising because we live in unprecedented times,” Catherine McKinnell, an opposition Labour lawmaker, said as she introduced the debate.

The debate is largely symbolic and did not take place in the main chamber of the House of Commons, where discussions on alternatives to May’s Brexit plan were taking place.

Petitions on the government’s website are debated after they reach 100,000 signatures and the government must respond to all petitions with more than 10,000 names.

Responding to the petition, the British government said it  “will not revoke Article 50.”

“We will honour the result of the 2016 referendum and work with parliament to deliver a deal that ensures we leave the European Union.”

The revoke petition is the largest directed at parliament, beating the 4.15 million signatures for a 2016 petition which called for another EU referendum in the event that those for and those against the exit could not achieved 60% of the votes.

Over 1.8 million people signed a petition calling for US President Donald Trump to be prevented from making a state visit to Britain, leading to a debate in parliament in 2017.