Edinburgh North and Leith shows highest support in Scotland for anti-Brexit petition

Edinburgh North and Leith is among the top ten wards in the UK to show support for the revoke article 50 petition that has been taking the country by storm.

The anti-Brexit petition which is calling for Article 50 to be overturned and for the UK to stay in the EU has garnered more than 5.7 million signatures.

Parliament will consider any parliamentary petition that reaches 100,000 signatures or more for debate.

Those parliamentary petitions that reach 10,000 signatures or more will receive a response from the government.

Support for remaining in the EU is strong in the Edinburgh North and Leith ward. Picture: TSPL/UK Gov

Revoke article 50 is the most popular online parliamentary petition ever created, it was revealed last week.

Heat map data shows the areas around Britain where support for remaining in the EU is the strongest - and Edinburgh North and Leith is right up there.

Some of the highest numbers of signatories are in London. Hornsey and Golders Green – a seat held by Labour’s Catherine West has had more than 30,000 signatories, which is more than a third of the electorate.

Nearby in Islington North, Jeremy Corbyn’s constituency, there are 25,799 signatures. His neighbour and Labour colleague Emily Thornberry in Islington South and Finsbury, has attracted 22,192 signatories. But the high numbers have not just been in London. Bristol West (Labour) has 35,215 signatures. Brighton Pavilion (Green) has 27,637.

In eighth place nationally, Edinburgh North and Leith, (Deidre Brock, SNP) has 26,424, making it the most supportive constituency in Scotland for revoking article 50 and placing it just behind Cambridge with 26,551 signatories.

The bumper figure represents 23.46% of the SNP ward’s 112,642 constituents.

Elsewhere in Edinburgh, support for the petition is relatively high compared to the rest of the UK, with 19,421 backing it in Edinburgh South and 18,301 in favour in Edinburgh East.

Down south, meanwhile, Theresa May’s Maidenhead constituency only managed 12,412 but is by no means the smallest amount of signatures.

Walsall North, a Conservative seat with 67,309 constituents has had just 1798 signatories – 0.03 % of the electorate. Dudley North (Independent), West Bromwish West (Labour), Wolverhampton South East (Labour) all attracted fewer than 2000 signatures.

Most successful

The petition, the most successful in the site’s history has been under scrutiny since it was claimed that people could sign it numerous time using the same email address.

This has been refuted by fullfact.org, the UK’s independent factchecking charity. On its website it states that it is “possible to use the same email address twice but no more than that.”

Another claim is that you can sign the Revoke Article 50 petition using any name you want. Fullfact.org has said that it is possible to “sign using a false name”.

Top constituencies in the UK with most support for revoke article 50

10. Islington North (Labour): 25,799

9. Richmond Park (Labour): 26,343

8. Edinburgh North and Leith (SNP): 26,454

7. Cambridge (Labour): 26,551

6. Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Labour): 26,690

5. Holborn and St Pancras (Labour): 26,692

4. Hampstead and Kilburn (Labour): 27,561

3. Brighton Pavilion (Green Party): 27,637

2. Hornsey and Wood Green (Labour): 30,553

1. Bristol West (Labour): 35,215

• A version of this article originally appeared in our sister publication iNews.

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