More than 2,000 people in Wythenshawe and Sale East have signed a petition calling for Brexit to be cancelled.
The online petition had attracted 2.6 million supporters from across the UK at 9am this morning and will be considered for debate in parliament.
The petition calls for Article 50, which triggered the Brexit process, to be revoked. The petitions website crashed yesterday under the volume of signatures recorded.
The rate of signing is the highest the site has ever had to deal with and we have had to make some changes to ensure the site remains stable and open for signatures and new petitions. Thanks for bearing with us.
— Petitions Committee (@HoCpetitions) March 21, 2019
Online petitions rarely result in changes in the law but the petition puts more pressure on the Prime Minister.
More than 400 people in Wythenshawe and Sale East have also signed a petition calling on the UK to leave the EU without a withdrawal deal. The petition attracted 392,000 signatures.
The rate of signatures in individual constituencies can be tracked on a heatmap on the petitions committee website.
EU leaders have agreed on a plan to delay the Article 50 process, postponing Brexit beyond 29 March.
The UK will be offered a delay until 22 May, if MPs approve the withdrawal deal negotiated with the EU next week.
If they do not, the EU will back a shorter delay until 12 April, allowing the UK time to get the deal through or to “indicate a way forward”.
Theresa May said there was now a “clear choice” facing UK MPs, who could vote for a third time on her deal next week.
The terms of a delay to Brexit has to have the agreement of all 27 member states in the EU but the UK is able to revoke Article 50 without any any agreement. It would mean either:
- Brexit could be cancelled permanently
- Brexit could be postponed indefinitely until being triggered again after a withdrawal deal is agreed by parliament
- Or it could be postponed until triggered after a deal is put to the people in another referendum
But Theresa May has said she will “not countenance” revoking Article 50 and is still committed to delivering Brexit.
And Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn who is in Brussels yesterday said he did not believe revoking Article 50 was necessary, although the party has not ruled out the move.