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A conservative MP has called for an overhaul to the online petition system, saying it leaves public opinion on important issues like Brexit open for “manipulation” from “foreign state aggressors.”

During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, MP Maggie Throup said a “fundamental flaw” of the current system is that it “accepts unverified signatures from across the world.”

A petition to revoke Article 50 on the Government’s e-petitions website has become the best-supported proposal in the history of the House of Commons with 5.8 million signatures.

“Would my right honourable friends undertake to reform the online petition system which currently accepts unverified signatures from across the world,” the Erewash MP said.

“This fundamental flaw can produce and inaccurate reflection of public opinion on an important issue s such as revoking Article 50 and leaves our democracy potentially under threat from manipulation from foreign states aggressors.”

Responding to the question, Prime Minister Theresa May said the petition has been “constantly monitored for signing patterns to check for fraudulent activity.”

“Like the traditional petition paper system we do need to ensure that we do have an e-petition system that aims to strike a balance between allowing people to easily register their support for issues which are important to them while discouraging dishonesty from taking place,” she said.

“I’ve been assured that the government digital service has been constantly monitoring signing patterns to check for fraudulent activity.

“I can’t comment in more detail about the security measures that are taken but petitions are subject to checks as part of due diligence.”

On Friday, the Petitions Committee said that people had been asking who could sign petitions on their website.

In a series of tweets they said: “Anyone who is a UK resident or a British citizen can sign a petition. This includes British citizens living overseas.

“A few people have been talking about fraud and overseas signatures. As of this afternoon, approximately 96% of signatures on the petition were from the UK. That’s broadly what we’d expect for a petition like this.

We don’t comment in detail about security measures. We use different techniques - automated and manual - to identify and block signatures from bots, disposable email addresses and other sources that show signs of fraudulent activity. We also monitor signing patterns”

The Government has rejected the petition calling for Brexit to be stopped. It is due to be debated MPs on April 1.

MPs will also debate a petition calling for a second EU referendum, which has received more than 120,000 signatures, and another - signed by more than 140,000 - demanding that the UK leave with or without a deal on March 29.