Over 2.5 million Britons sign petition demanding second EU referendum

LONDON: Over 2.5 million Britons have signed a petition calling on the British Parliament to hold a new referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union (EU). The petition, signed by 2,757,097 supporters, led to the collapse of the website of the House of Commons for sometime on Friday because of the high numbers of people who visited the website to ask for the rerun, Efe news reported. The petition, set up by William Oliver Healey, called for implementing the rule that "if the Remain or Leave vote is less than 60 per cent based on a turnout less than 75 per cent, there should be another referendum". Parliament released a message on its official website that it will consider the request for a discussion, as parliament is committed to consider any request or initiative with more than 100,000 signatures. The committee concerned with petitions will meet on Tuesday to decide whether to approve a debate in this regard. A total of 51.9 per cent of Britons voted on Thursday to leave the EU in a referendum, nicknamed "Brexit" with the participation of 72.1 per cent of voters.