ALMOST 3,000 Fermanagh people have signed a petition calling for the Government to hold a second referendum 

The referendum, which was ironically started by a leave campaigner last Thursday night when it looked like the remain side might narrowly edge it, calls on the Government to “implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60 per-cent, based on a turnout of less than 75 per-cent, there should be another referendum.”

The final result was 52 per-cent leave to 42 per-cent remain, with a turnout of 72.2 per-cent. 

By Monday afternoon the petition had garnered almost 3.8 million signatures, over 2,900 of which were from the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency.

Fermanagh MP Tom Elliott said several people had contacted him regarding the petition. 

“I’ve had a number of emails about the petition, around 12-15 people who got in touch,” he said. “Some people have written out their own personal responses about why they signed the petition, while others just stated they had signed it. I will be making a response to them.”

Mr Elliott, who was speaking to the Herald while travelling to Belfast airport to catch a plane to London, said he would get “a better flavour of things” once he returned to Westminster, but said he doubted the petition would be successful. 

“All it really does is get the Government to debate it in parliament. I can’t actually see it triggering another referendum,” he said. 

With regard a second petition that has called for First Miniser Arlene Foster to ensure the Assembly refuses consent to leave the EU, which has almost 30,000 signatures, Mr Elliott said all decisions should now be taken at a UK level. 

“If we in Northern Ireland refuse to give our consent, it will weaken the our cause in any negotiations when we have them,” he said.  “We have a number of very strong points to make in the negotiations, particularly in relation to Northern Ireland.”