Children can sign anti-Brexit petition

[CrushedVelvet]

Those of you with children who feel strongly anti-Brexit may be interested to know that they may be allowed to sign the anti-Brexit petition that is currently going viral.

The rules state that you have to be a UK citizen or resident. You also have to have your own e-mail address, as obviously they want to ensure that individual people don't sign multiple times.

As this is a petition, not an official vote, you do NOT have to be on the electoral register. This means that children wishing to express their own views may sign - as may non-resident citizens and non-citizen residents.

According to the BBC, Andrea Leadsom said: "Should it reach 17.4 million respondents then I am sure there will be a very clear case for taking action" [see www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47652071].

It is currently at over 2.6million.

I only realized that children could sign after my 11 year-old expressed anger and frustration that he could not sign. This prompted me to double-check the rules and discover that in fact he could, which he did with great enthusiasm this morning.

The link to sign the petition is:

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/241584

Personally, I feel that the country should pause at this point and have a proper second referendum in case the prevailing view has changed in the past 3 years. Most people have a lot clearer idea of what Brexit entails now than they did in 2016. For example, I don't recall any mention of the Irish border issue then. I do remember prominent claims about all the extra money Brexit would bring to the UK, which have since been revealed to be blatant lies. Instead we face a damaged economy and trouble staffing the NHS.

If you or your friends/family are eligible and feel strongly about this, please sign the petition! Thank you.

Ooo . Thanks.

12 yo ds1 is very keen to sign but he couldn't manage to get to it when it was working last night, will be trying again this evening.

Any tots or newborns may need parental guidance.

This is all perfectly legit. Parents have a right and a duty to represent their offspring's best interests.

...Foetuses, Ova or imaginary offspring may be pushing it, however.

They need their own email address, which rules out most of the pre-literate.

Bloody ridiculous. Remainers scraping the bottom of the barrel to get their own way!

That must make it null and void. They wouldn’t be able to vote in a referendum, election or anything else. Maybe pregnant women should always be able to have two votes, there’s an idea.

If the youngsters get their friends to sign..that would boost the numbers

Just a correction: the automatic link to the BBC article has inadvertently included an erroneous close bracket ] at the end, so it doesn't work. If you copy the link and delete that ']' at the end, however, it should take you through to the BBC article.

It is not a vote. It is an expression of opinion, and the United Nations Unversal Declaration of Human Rights says we can all do that.

"All" is a legal word. It means "All."

It wouldn't make it 'null and void' because it's a petition, not an official vote. Those who are interested in the result know what the limitations are.

Yes, I'm a Remainer, but no I'm not just "trying to get my own way", I'm trying to force a second referendum because the first was conducted in a climate of misinformation/non-information. I am perfectly willing to accept that such a second referendum could still result in a pro-Brexit vote. If it does, then at least the remainers will know that they really are still in the minority, and Parliament will know that too. If, on the other hand, public opinion has indeed changed, then surely this is important to know and act on.

My kids are not 'the bottom of the barrel' Thankyou very much! They are tomorrow's electorate and frankly, if this issue means they step out of the apathy that got us into this fiasco in the first place, and start caring about what goes on around us then I'm all for it. Quite what leavers think is 'good' about this shambles is beyond me!
I'd get behind brexit if there was a genuine plan to look after ALL the UK's citizens and gave us a deal that was BETTER than the one we have with the E.U. currently but how the hell can anyone, in all conscience, support a deal that will leave us worse off and DOES NOT DELIVER WHAT WAS PROMISED AT THE REFERENDUM?

I have signed the petition and would love nothing more than to see the numbers rise enough to make the government sit up, but think that allowing children to sign devalues the whole thing.

Are people seriously signing on behalf of babies?!

pbs.twimg.com/media/Cev0bxyW8AAQQ8y.jpg

My teenager told me this morning that he and most of his friends have signed, they saw it on the news and decided to.

Personally I do not advocate signing on behalf of babies. If you read my original post, I started this on the instigation of my very coherent 11 year-old son. Children ARE legally allowed to sign the petition, even if they are not legally allowed to vote. However, my interpretation of the official petition.org form is that the signatory has to choose to and be able to sign it themself.

Because you can doesn't mean you should.

Ime It's unlikely even 11 year olds have formed opinions far from those of their parents. It feels far too overbearing to me.

I have to say, I’m a remainer, and I’ve signed the petition, but this is going too far. Much as I want article 50 revoked, things like getting children to sign petitions, saying “most leavers are dead now” and especially “all leavers are thick racists”, really makes me embarrassed to be part of the campaign to revoke.

For what it’s worth, my two nephews were too young to vote in the referendum, now they are old enough, and vehement leavers, unlike their remainer parents.

It does add to any previous perception that these online petitions have dubious authority.

My 8 year old wants to march to parliament now to ask why the government care so little about the environment, pollution and her future. I will look into creating an email address for her.

I understand the concern from the leave camp, but, as has been pointed out, a lot of information has been revealed since the referendum, and not everyone may now wish to take their original stance (which goes for remainers too). Surely such an important decision should have been only taken when relevant information and facts were available, rather than basing opinions on 'maybe' and 'possibly' (and some blatant untruths). If the majority are still leave then this won't be a concern. If the majority are remain, then this shows that public opinion has changed.

Pollution in the UK is at an all time low.

Maybe protesting outside some foreign embassies might be more logical.

I’ll ask my cats and dogs if they want to sign, shall I?

Or outside an Apple store.

how ridiculous - so a child too young to write it's own name can make a decision about the EU?

aposterhasnoname: I would like to make it very clear that I have never said anything remotely approaching those quotes of yours, and I do not advocate "getting children to sign" it, just letting them know that they can, if they have expressed an interest in the issue. Again, it is a petition, not a vote. Children signing it by themselves is allowed by the rules. I doubt coercing them to is, and to do so would certainly be morally wrong.