Buyer’s Remorse in The UK

Buyer’s Remorse in The UK: EU New Referendum Petition Has Already Been Signed by More Than 2.5 Million People

US Preacher believes Brexit could bring on the Rapture, says media report

By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST News Service

LONDON, UK (ANS – June 25, 2016) – In a case of buyer’s remorse in the UK, more than 2.5 million people have signed a petition calling for a second EU referendum, after the vote to leave was carried on Thursday.

According to the BBC, it has more signatures than any other on the parliamentary website and as it has passed 100,000, Parliament will consider it for a debate.

The UK voted to leave the EU by 52% to 48% in Thursday’s referendum but the majority of voters in London, Scotland and Northern Ireland backed Remain.

“David Cameron has previously said there will be no second referendum. On Friday he said he would stand down as prime minister by October following the leave result,” said the BBC.

“A House of Commons spokeswoman said the petition was created on May 24, 2016. There were 22 signatures on it at the time the referendum result was announced.”

“She said the petition site had temporarily gone down at one point following ‘exceptionally high volumes of simultaneous users on a single petition, significantly higher than on any previous occasion.’”

Raise profile

The petition’s website states it was set up by an individual called William Oliver Healey, and says: “We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the Remain or Leave vote is less than 60%, based on a turnout less than 75%, there should be another referendum.”

A report in the Daily Express said that Healey had created the petition, but went on to say that in the space of 24 hours, “the right-wing activist claims it has been ‘hijacked’ by Vote Remain campaigners…Since the Brexit [an abbreviation of ‘British exit’] win, Mr Healey's Parliamentary petition has quickly become the most successful in British history since they went online.”

Yesterday, he posted on Facebook: “The UK People have placed a ticking time bomb under the floorboards of the EU.”

He added, “I welcome this. I do not favor a second referendum the petition that has attracted so much attention from Remainers was hardly noticed until yesterday, so the Remainers weren't really interested in their view or they would (have) fought harder.

“I am a strategist and one of those strategies has been wrongly hijacked by the Remain campaign.”

And a deleted post found by Express.co.uk, said: “It was meant as a joke but the Remainers have sour grapes disease.”

The BBC stated, a debate in Parliament is a good way to raise the profile of an issue with law makers but it does not automatically follow that there will be a change in the law.

Iain Watson, the BBC’s political correspondent said that fact that so many people have signed a petition calling for a second EU referendum has attracted a lot of attention – but, stated that “it has zero chance of being enacted.”

Nigel Farage, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), who has campaigned for the UK to leave the EU throughout his political career, said in May that a narrow win for Remain could cause unstoppable demand for a rerun of the referendum.

He said at the time that a result that saw Remain win by 52% to 48% would mean “unfinished business by a long way.”

But Mr. Cameron has said the referendum was a “once in a generation, once in a lifetime” decision, saying the UK had “referendums not neverendums.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has also rejected the idea of a second referendum, saying: “We have got to accept that decision.”

Labour MP for Tottenham David Lammy later tweeted that people could “stop this madness through a vote in Parliament.”

He said there should be a vote in the Commons next week on whether the UK goes forward with Brexit.

‘Make divorce official’

The BBC said that the parliamentary petitions system is overseen by the Petitions Committee, which considers whether petitions that receive more than 100,000 signatures should be raised in the House of Commons and debated.

The committee is due to sit again on Tuesday.

Former London Mayor Boris Johnson, one of the leading Leave campaigners and the bookmakers' odds-on favorite to succeed Mr Cameron, has insisted the UK is not “turning its back” on Europe.

He said the decision would not make the UK any less tolerant or outward looking and would not reduce opportunities for young people.

So, we will have to wait and see if this case of buyer’s remorse succeeds, or if the EU vote to Leave still stand.

The Rapture?

If that wasn’t enough, the Express.co.uk, has reported that an online US preacher called Paul Begley, who describes himself as “a watchman,” and has a YouTube channel “published a brief video in the early hours just as the Brexit result came in.”

The story went on to say that his online “about me” blurb states: “I Sound the Alarm, WARNING everyone of what's happening in end times prophecy and events.”

They reported that Begley had said, “I believe this Brexit being on will have huge financial and global ramifications.

“Everything happens because of God's will, and I think this is a sign of the breaking up, the preparation of form, the 10 kingdoms, and they have the kings...running the earth under the Antichrist's Iron Fist.

“Time is so close my friend; it is so short.

“If you don't know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior…it's urgent, pray the prayer.

“Take care of yourself and wake up. The Rapture is imminent, the world is about to change, and believe me it is not going to be for the good.

“The world’s going to change [and become] worse and worse every second of every day.”

There you have it. Never a dull moment at this time.

Photo captions: 1) David Cameron said he would step down as prime minister after the UK voted to leave the EU (Reuters). 2) William Oliver Healey (inset’s) petition (bottom right) is being signed by Vote Remain campaigners. (Daily Express). 3). People gathered to protest outside the Houses of Parliament following the leave result (EPA). 4) Screenshot from Begley’s YouTube intro video). 5) Norma and Dan Wooding in Hollywood (Bryan Seltzer).

About the writer: Dan Wooding, 75, is an award-winning winning author, broadcaster and journalist born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, Alfred and Anne Wooding. He was raised in the UK and is now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for nearly 53 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren, who all live in the UK. Dan is the founder and international director of the ASSIST News Service (ANS), and the author or co-author of some 45 books, the latest of which is a novel called Mary: My Story from Bethlehem to Calvary (http://marythebook.com). Dan has a weekly radio show and two TV programs all based in Southern California. Before moving to the US, Dan was a senior reporter with two of the UK’s largest circulation newspapers and was also an interviewer for BBC Radio One in London.

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