Petition · past parliament

Invoke Article 50 of The Lisbon Treaty immediately.

Closed 128,238 signatures

What the petition asks

The British people have spoken. We have voted to leave the EU. We want article 50 of the Lisbon treaty to be invoked immediately. We still have two years to discuss our exit from the EU, but we do not wish to delay it any further.

Government response · 11 August 2016

The British people have voted to leave the EU and their will must be respected and delivered. We should not trigger Article 50 until we have a UK approach and objectives.

The British people have voted to leave the EU and their will must be respected and delivered. The process for leaving the EU and determining our future relationship will be a complex one, so we need to take time to think through our objectives and approach. We want to ensure the best possible outcome for Britain and the future UK-EU relationship. As part of this, the government will of course work closely with the devolved administrations to ensure we get the best deal for the UK as a whole. We should not trigger Article 50 until we have a UK approach and objectives, so Article 50 should not be invoked before the end of this year.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Debate in Parliament

MPs debated this petition on 17 October 2016.

Read the transcript · Watch the debate

Timeline

30 Jun 2016 Petition opened for signatures
1 Jul 2016 Passed 10,000 signatures, requiring a government response
15 Jul 2016 Passed 100,000 signatures, qualifying for a parliamentary debate
11 Aug 2016 Government responded
17 Oct 2016 Debated in Parliament
30 Dec 2016 Closed to new signatures

Key facts

Signatures 128,238
Status Closed
Opened 30 Jun 2016
Closed 30 Dec 2016
Response 11 Aug 2016
Debated 17 Oct 2016

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.