A petition launched in December to rejoin the EU has today passed the 100,000 signature mark. The petition, titled, ‘Apply to rejoin the EU as soon as possible to increase growth in the UK‘, is available to view here. It will now need to be considered for debate in parliament.
Robert McMaster, creator of the petition and member of Berkshire for Europe, one of the 100 local chapters of European Movement UK, said:
“Ten years after the Brexit vote and six years since the UK left the EU, it has become clear that Brexit has failed and that the UK public no longer supports leaving the EU, with a clear majority wishing to return.
“Recent government statements make it clear that it wishes the UK to have closer relations with the EU, but nothing comes close to being as beneficial for the UK as Rejoining the EU as a full member where we will be able to take a full part and have a full say in its deliberations (even if the terms are not the same as last time, and we urgently need pro-EU groups to lead a proper debate on what that might mean).
“This is the third petition to Apply to Rejoin the EU to the current government, and the 2nd to reach 100,000 signatures. The first led to a three hour debate in parliament in March last year where 42 MPs spoke for an average of four minutes each, 38 of whom criticised the government’s stance with only four supporting Brexit – the official government spokesperson, a Conservative Minister and two Northern Ireland MPs. (No Reform MPs bothered to attend.)
“We hope this petition will lead to a second debate where another 40 MPs can tell the Government what they and their constituents think, and encourage signatories of the petition to write to MPs with their own stories and to ask them to attend. And that it will be followed by further petitions every 6 months (the lifetime of petitions on the Parliament website) with increasing numbers of signatures until the Government changes stance and applies to Rejoin.”
Dr Mike Galsworthy, Chair of European Movement UK, said:
“Many Brits’ aspirations for full membership of the EU have not been abandoned with the passage of the last ten years. Rather, it’s getting stronger and more determined as increasing numbers of people now see membership as their preferred future.
“This government may have dismissed this petition at the 10,000 mark with a blunt “The UK will not be rejoining the EU” – but since that statement in January, they themselves have shifted tack in an attempt to keep up with the public mood. At the 100,000 mark, the PM and rival candidates all know that the huge pro-EU vote is a constituency they cannot now dismiss so curtly. And there are parliamentarians across many parties who also have a strong appetite for such a timely debate.”
