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.

You have to be 18 to sign a petition. Accept the result of the referendum and teach your children how democracy works.

Why do you have to be 18. Sheer nonsense.

I thought that 16 year olds can vote in the general elections in Scotland for example?

It's their future and yet they couldn't vote in the ref. They have as much right as say an elderly person with say six months to live?

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

This. I do think there should be an age limit - but my ds is 16, would have been able to vote in the Scottish indyref at that age, so I think he can make an informed choice about being in the EU, too.

And leave voters, do stop your mithering. The Leave Campaign promised we would leave with a deal. Leaving with no deal does NOT respect the referendum any more than revoke does, but at least revoke doesn't destroy our lives and gives us the opportunity to think again and come up with a plan if we wanted to give leaving the EU another go. Once we're out, we're out.

@CrushedVelvet I understood perfectly what I was voting for first time round despite the shit you remainers keep droning on about.
I am University educated and fully capable of making an informed choice. I voted to leave, and would continue to vote to leave.

So please do not start with the same broken record that none of us knew what we were voting for, because we did. I work in a huge city A&E, all of my collages including Consultants, etc voted Leave, and they too would vote the same.

It is truly pathetic how remainers are behaving. Deal with it.

ScarletBitch: That is simply untrue. You do not have to be 18 to sign a petition. Yes, you do have to be 18 to vote, in either an election or a referendum. They are different things.

See:
theyouthagenda.com/e-petitions/

The minimum voting age in elections is not only 16 in Scotland but the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey.

Why can't younger people have a say - it's only a petition.

There's a rabid Nigel Farage fan and Leave leafleter in my DDs class. I bet he's signed every leave petition going.

@lonelyplanetmum because you have to prove your identity to make your signature valid.

*those of you with children who feel strong anti Brexit

I fixed it for you.

ScarletBitch: I'm not saying none of you knew what you were voting for, only that some didn't. If there were a second referendum, you could of course vote Leave again. No problem.

Voting on behalf of family pets would tend to diminish the legitimacy of the poll, but then you might want to do that if you wished(?)

Helping your kids to sign is legitimate. It is their future this is all about.

What were you voting for Scarlet ?
What benefits are you personally looking forward to when we crash out shortly?

Lots of other health service professionals disagree with you.

Other people and lurkers please increase the likes this page on Facebook or elsewhere if you support the NHS over this.

NHS~consultants~etc~against~Brexit

Those under 18 can prove their identity in the same way we do. As already explained younger people can and do vote in General elections in parts of the U.K. Scotland and Channel Islands.

This is only a petition. As with so many posters on these topics - logical points are ignored and not addressed.

1. Under 18's do vote in elections in parts of U.K.

1. It's their future.

1. Agitated Leave voting teenagers can sign different petitions.

1. It's only a petition.

If children with an opinion about how their future is being decided want to sign it, GOOD ON THEM

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

Well if people outside of the Uk, children, even babies are 'signing', the whole petition is null and void anyway. Pathetic.

Pickwick
Has it occurred to you that Brits abroad might want a say?
Like the ones in the forces?
Or those who live elsewhere in the EU?

And why should those who will get the vote in the next few years not have a say?

It is a petition not an election.
If the signatures comply with the rules set by the government, they are valid.

I'm a remainer but don't agree with this and seems like an abuse of the service despite it being technically allowed.

THe Government set the rules
do you not like what the government says ?

Leaver kids have been signing petitions for the last three years ....

I am a remainer and signed the petition but this is making me angry.

Enabling children of 11 to sign is a daft idea. They will be influenced by their parents regardless of which side they’re on.

Has it occurred to you that Brits abroad might want a say?

Yeah all those expats living in Papua New Guinea and North Korea.

Also as long as you have an email address you can sign, so someone with more than one email can sign multiple times. So shouldn't be too hard to get to 17.4m signatures.

I can just about go with 16 year olds voting but 12 year olds or younger signing, come on...😂

TIP what leaver children signing what petitions?

There is some rather desperate justification going on here . An opportunity to make a valid point and its turned into a bit of a farce.

I certainly wouldn’t have my child’s name attached to a petition online without them being fully aware of all the implications of what they were signing up to and never mind identity fraud but, each to their own.

The petition is what it is. The government knows that. It knows the rules for who can sign; it formulated them. These rules allow British citizens under 18 and British citizens abroad to sign the petition for themselves.

They do not allow people to sign multiple times, or for others. I would hope that people would not try to do this.

The petition.org website is provided by the government - as a legal way for the groups designated by the government on this site to make their opinions known.

The results are not legally binding.

…Then again, the referendum results weren't either… ;-)

scarletbitch there is absolutely no way everyone at your hospital voted leave last time or that every single one of them would do so again.

I do know some people in my trust who voted leave, though the main reason they gave at the time was the extra money for the NHS.

What is it that you think makes your whole hospital want to leave?

Those going on about pets signing it - they have to have an email account first. FGS some people are just desperate to convince themselves it's fake.

@Luaa I never said everyone in my hospital, I said everyone who I work with. Why did they? Cannot answer for them, but I have my reasons why I voted leave and I will not let a bunch of stroppy insulting immature remainers tell me differently.

They should have put a lower age limit on it. I've no problem with 13+ but most kids would just sign it because their parents told them to, so all it's effectively doing is multiplying the parents votes rather than free choice.