[JURIST] The UK government on Friday rejected a petition [official petition website] calling for a second referendum vote to prevent the UK from leaving the European Union (EU) [official website]. The petition achieved 4.1 million signatures, surpassing the 100,000 signature threshold which obligates the UK government to respond. The petition argued [Guardian report] that the vote to leave the EU [BBC backgrounder] did not achieve a 60 percent majority nor a 75 percent turnout. The Foreign Ministry [official website] responded via email that the European Union Referendum Act [materials], as agreed upon by Parliament, states no such threshold requirements. The government response further stressed that the referendum was a “once in a generation” vote and that the government must honor the majority’s decision and prepare for the UK’s exit from the EU. While the petition may be scheduled for a debate, the Petitions Committee [official website] has stated that such a debate could only take place in Westminster Hall [official website] and would not have the power of law to actually trigger a second referendum. A decision on the petition has been postponed until July 12 due to an investigation into the petition’s rising number of discovered fraudulent signatures.

A majority of British citizens voted to leave [JURIST report] the EU last month. Concern over the economic health of Britain [Reuters report] going into the future led to a global market plunge following the vote, as the pound fell as far as 10 percent against the US dollar—a low not seen since 1985. While the vote has fallen in favor of departure, no legal changes have taken place yet [Guardian report], as Britain must take further steps to confirm its separation. However, Britain’s leading public-interest law firm as well as several experienced litigators are currently drafting [JURIST report] a legal challenge to at least trigger a parliamentary debate. The EU has set out a mechanism for leaving in Article 50 [text] of the Lisbon Treaty, where a member state “may decide to withdraw from the union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements,” and “must notify the European council of its intention.” Under Article 50, a member country can only be removed from the EU two years after notification. While Britain might bypass this process through repeal of the European Communities Act of 1972, it is believed that this would make coming to a preferential trade agreement with the EU more difficult.