This petition was submitted during the 2015-2017 parliament
Rejected petition Parliament must approve the date of the referendum on leaving the EU.
The European Union Referendum Act 2015:
S1(2) The Secretary of State must, by regulations, appoint the day on which the referendum is to be held.
The importance of the referendum to the UK requires Parliament to allow the electorate sufficient time to understand relevant issues before voting.
More details
The importance of allowing the electorate sufficient time to understand the complex issues involved in deciding to leave or remain in the EU is self-evident. The Cabinet actively seeks one particular result and the minister may not act impartially and in interest of the entire electorate in setting the date.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s not clear what the petition is asking the UK Government or Parliament to do.
Parliament has already approved the date of the EU referendum. As your petition explains, the Secretary of State was given the power to set the date of the referendum by regulations. Section 9 of the EU Referendum Act 2015 requires these regulations to be approved by both Houses of Parliament.
You can read the regulations here:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/278/contents/made
The regulations were approved by the House of Commons on 29 February 2016. You can find out more here, including links to watch the debate or read the transcript:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2016/february/mps-debate-motion-on-eu-referendum/
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.