The e-petition to the Government calling for the population of the UK to be stabilised at below 70 million has achieved 100,000 signatures in just seven days – one of the fastest to achieve this goal since the initiative was launched. The petition reached 100,000 at 19.30.
The petition, launched by think tank Migration Watch UK, calls upon the Government to prevent the population rising to this figure in the next 20 years – which would mean adding the equivalent of seven cities the size of Birmingham to the population. This would require a sharp reduction in net immigration to about 40,000 in the next five years or so.
A YouGov poll over the week-end showed that almost 80% of the population already thought that England was overcrowded.
Said Sir Andrew Green, Migration Watch chairman, ‘At last the British people have been able to express their deep opposition to mass immigration. This petition is a wake up call for the political class who have condescended to the public for too long. To leap over the 100,000 hurdle in just one week is truly remarkable. I hope that the public will continue to sign up so as to send an unmistakeable call for action.’
‘The House of Commons is not obliged to debate the petition but it would be amazing if they tried to brush aside such a powerful expression of public opinion on an issue crucial to the future of our society. We hope the public will continue to sign up and add to the numbers so that Parliament can be left in no doubt about the deep well of public concern that exists around this subject,’ he said.
Sir Andrew said there had long been strong public feeling on this issue but this has been the first opportunity to express it directly.
‘Furthermore it has been achieved in the face of total silence from BBC Radio who, as usual have been determined to duck the case against mass immigration, he said