A Tory councillor has been suspended after creating a petition to make supporting EU membership a crime after Brexit
The fight for Brexit just got dirtier, after a Conservative councillor was suspended for launching a petition calling on the government to make supporting EU membership a crime.
Cllr Christian Holliday called for the Treason Felony Act to be amended to include the following offences when the UK leaves the EU this morning:
- "To imagine, devise, promote, work, or encourage others, to support UK becoming a member of the European Union"
- "To conspire with foreign powers to make the UK, or part of the UK, become a member of the EU"
He added: "It is becoming clear that many politicians and others are unwilling to accept the democratic decision of the British people to leave the EU. Brexit must not be put at risk in the years and decades ahead. For this reason we the undersigned request that the Treason Felony Act be amended as set out in this petition."
However, the Conservative has since been suspended from his role after receiving considerable criticism for his views.
Holliday was a member of the Guildford Conservative Association, and represented Burpham.
Cllr Paul Spooner tweeted at lunchtime that he had suspended a number of the group and withdrawn the whip from them until the next group meeting in November.
Guildford residents voted to Remain in the EU by 56 per cent in the June referendum.
The Treason Felony Act of 1848 states that any action to try to depose the monarch could be punishable by life in prison.
The petition currently has over 1,000 signatures, but needs 100,000 before it will be considered for a debate in parliament – Which puts it some way away from that second referendum petition…