Tag: British people

Aa Aa Tired of hearing about Brexit? Well, this German MEP echoed what some of us may be feeling. Jens Geiger told Euronews' political editor Darren McCaffrey that he is "bored to death" of Brexit. When asked about whether Theresa May should resign as prime minister in a bid to push her deal through parliament, Geiger replied saying he "couldn't care less". "The British people have to make up their mind and I'm really tired thinking about what should help and what not," the MEP said. This comes after British MPs voted to take control of Brexit, wresting control of the Brexit process from Theresa May. The UK were set to leave the EU on March 29, however the British government secured a short extension amid political division over the 'backstop' agreement, which aims to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland in an event of a no-deal. Meanwhile, those who have been calling for a 'People's Vote' have been drumming up support through a parliament petition. The 'revoke Article 50' petition aims to call a halt on Brexit and will be debated in parliament next week. European Council President Donald Tusk appealed to the European Parliament to consider a long extension to Brexit if "the UK wishes to rethink its strategy," referring to the petition.

An online petition calling for the UK government to revoke article 50 and remain in the EU has reached more than 4m signatures, becoming the most popular to be submitted to the Parliament website. The petition, which was started in late February by “frustrated remainer” Margaret Georgiadou, has gained momentum very quickly, and has now reached just over 4m supporters, adding 2.5m signatures in less than 24 hours. Brexit: hundreds of thousands expected to march for people's vote – live updates Read more It gathered momentum shortly after the prime minister appealed to the British people to back her in her standoff with MPs from all parties. The number of signatures continued to rise on Saturday, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to gather in central London to march for a “people’s vote” on Brexit, asking for the public to be given the power to make the final decision. On Thursday, the parliamentary petitions website crashed several times as so many people were trying to access it at the same time. The error message “bad gateway”, which displayed when the website was overwhelmed, even started trending on Twitter. Conspiracy theories also appeared from both sides, with some saying the site’s troubles were a plot to prevent further signatures. Others claimed that a small proportion of signatures from overseas IP addresses – including one from North Korea – meant the petition had been “hijacked by bots”. In fact, 96% of the signatures were from the UK. The House of Commons petitions committee said: “Anyone who is a UK resident or a British citizen can sign a petition.

Eleven MPs have now left their political parties to join the Independent Group. The Guardian’s political editor, Heather Stewart, asks whether Brexit is pushing British party politics to breaking point. And: Nosheen Iqbal on Sajid Javid revoking Shamima Begum’s citizenship On Monday, seven Labour MPs left their party and and set up the Independent Group. On Tuesday they were joined by another Labour MP. On Wednesday three Conservatives also defected: Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston. Is this the start of a new centrist party? The Guardian’s political editor, Heather Stewart, covering for Today in Focus host Anushka Asthana, speaks to Jessica Elgot, the Guardian’s Westminster correspondent, about what the Independent Group stands for. She also speaks to Alison McGovern, the Labour MP and vocal remainer who has disagreed with Jeremy Corbyn on many issues but does not believe breaking up the party is the solution, and Robert Halfon, the Conservative MP who does not intend to leave his party but wants to radically change it from within. Finally, Nosheen Iqbal examines Sajid Javid’s decision to revoke the citizenship of Shamima Begum, the Bethnal Green teenager who left the UK in 2015 to join Isis. Help support our independent journalism at gu.com/infocus