England independence petition has signatures from Scotland and Wales – surprise map
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A petition entitled ‘Hold a referendum on English independence from the UK’ has been filed on the UK Government and Parliament website. The petition, which had received 2,252 signatures at the time of writing, states: “Scotland has had an independence referendum. The English haven’t. Wales and Northern Ireland have had devolution referendums. It’s time England had an independence referendum.”
The petition, which was created by Gary Kelly, will run for six months until until November 19, 2020.
It requires 10,000 signatories for the Government to respond to it, and 100,000 signatures for it to be considered for debate in the UK Parliament.
But the map of the UK showing where the petition has been signed so far has revealed some rather surprising results.
A huge majority of the signatures have come from large areas of Scotland and Wales, with just a handful coming from England.
In Scotland, the political constituencies with the most signatories are West Dunbartonshire (47); Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill (40); Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (37); Angus (37); and Ross, Skye & Lochaber (35).
All seats are held by the Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP), who have long continued to push for independence from the rest of the UK.
Other constituencies with a high number of signatories are Moray (29 and Conservative); and Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross (22 and Liberal Democrat).
In Wales, the constituency of Arfon in the north west of the country has the most signatories with 23. That seat is currently held by Plaid Cymru.
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Britons took to Twitter to react to the surprising results.
One said: “At the time of the vote I’d thought it was sad if you were going to go but now? Cut down the dead weight dragging you down!”
Another person from England tweeted: “We don’t need no stinking independence! We still have an empire!! And you’re it.”
But supporters of Scottish independence hit back, lashing out at England and again demanding the break up of the Union.
One tweeted: “England are terrified of being independent because they have nothing & produce nothing to trade around the world with.
“They have far more people than resources with which to feed & water them or power their homes & businesses with.
“England are the most dependent nation of the UK.”
Another Scottish independence support wrote: “My last three hours in my fifties hoping for independence.
“Hope the sixties see it happen for me and all our older supporters within the next year.
“That’s my birthday wish…fingers crossed. #indyref2.”
During the Scottish independence referendum in September 2014, the country’s people voted by a margin of 55 percent to 45 percent to remain part of the United Kingdom.
Despite this, Ms Sturgeon and the SNP have continued calls for a second referendum on independence.
The First Minister has demanded Boris Johnson transfer the relevant powers to the Scottish parliament of Holyrood to make this happen – something the Prime Minister is refusing to do.
Ms Sturgeon also argues Brexit has heightened the need for independence, as Scotland voted to remain part of the European Union during the referendum in June 2016 by a margin of 62 percent to 38 percent.
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