The government has removed 77,000 fake signatures from a petition calling for a second EU referendum, saying they were ‘added fraudulently’.

They said they would continue to monitor the petition – signed by more than 3 million people – for suspicious activity.

Only British citizens and UK residents can sign petitions on the government’s website.

Concerns were raised after page data showed people from outside the UK had added their names, including 39,000 apparently from the Vatican City (despite that country having a population of just 800.)


The petition has attracted more signatures than any other petition since the site was set up.

We have removed about 77,000 signatures which were added fraudulently. We will continue to monitor for suspicious activity. — Petitions Committee (@HoCpetitions) June 26, 2016

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It reads: ‘We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60% based a turnout less than 75% there should be another referendum.’

Are the Liberal Democrats making a comeback?In fact, it was published before the result by a Brexit supporter who was pessimistic about how successful his side would be and was then ‘hijacked’ by Remainers.

Government petitions ask people to confirm their details, including name, email address, and postcode.

It is intended to strike a balance between allowing people to easily have their say, whilst discouraging dishonesty.

Petitions Committee statement Helen Jones, Chair of the Petitions Committee, said: ‘We take fraud in the petitions system very seriously, because it undermines the process of parliamentary democracy. ‘The Government Digital Service are taking action to investigate and, where necessary, remove fraudulent signatures. ‘People adding fraudulent signatures to this petition should know that they undermine the cause they pretend to support. ‘It is clear that this petition is very important to a substantial number of people. The Petitions Committee will be considering the petition at its meeting next week, and will decide whether or not to schedule a debate on it. ‘That doesn’t mean that the Committee will be deciding whether or not it agrees with the petition – just whether or not it should be debated. Any debate would allow a range of views to be expressed.’