Revoke Article 50 petition to cancel Brexit to be debated by MPs next week, Parliament announces

Committee says it was 'the most signed petition ever received' on Parliament site

A petition calling for Brexit to be halted by revoking Article 50 will be debated by MPs on 1 April, it has been announced.

The Commons Petitions Committee said the petition, which passed 5.75 million signatures on Tuesday evening, was “the most signed petition ever received on the House of Commons and Government petitions site”.

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

The committee said it had decided to have a single debate on the three petitions “because it wanted to ensure they were debated as soon as possible, so they would be less likely to be overtaken by events”.

The petitions will be debated by MPs in the Commons’ secondary chamber, Westminster Hall.

Under UK law, any petition on the government with more than 100,000 signatures must be considered for debate in Parliament.

The debate will be non-binding it will not be put to a vote.

However, the government later rejected the petition in an official response posted on the parliamentary petitions website.

“This government will not revoke Article 50,” it said.”We will honour the result of the 2016 referendum and work with Parliament to deliver a deal that ensures we leave the European Union.”

It comes after MPs voted by 329 to 302 to wrest control of parliamentary process away from Theresa May so they can hold votes on alternatives to her rejected withdrawal agreement.

The loss put a host of rejected options back on the table, including keeping the UK close to the EU or even remaining a member.

Ms May’s authority was left in tatters after 30 members of her party defied her instructions and voted for Parliament to take control of the Brexit process.

Three government resigned in order to vote against the prime minister.

MPs are set to take part in a series of paper ballots on Wednesday in an attempt to work out what kind of Brexit has a chance of winning the support of the House of Commons.

They must put forward their preferred options by the end of Tuesday, with Commons speaker John Bercow selecting those to be put to a series of indicative Yes-or-No votes over the course of half an hour the following evening.

Further debates and votes on the most popular alternatives will be held on Monday to try and whittle the list down.

Shortly before the votes, Ms May will face Tory MPs at a meeting of the backbench 1922 Committee as she battles to save her premiership and her Brexit deal.