10,000 supporters, and our *most important update* so far. Please read!...

DEAR REMAINERS, This petition has been submitted to European Parliament. It has been brought to the attention of several MEPs. Some have responded. One UK MEP, whose name I shall not mention, has responded with extreme vitriol - but importantly they are aware! From hearing the speeches of MEPs of other member states - such as Germany's Manfred Weber - during Tuesday's extraordinary European Parliament session, it is clear that Europe is aware of our plight too. Our friends wholly recognize that our nation has been divided by the intensive and dishonest efforts of a few people who have never had an interest in the European Union, and a handful of politicians playing a domestic game of thrones. You can trust that there are a lot of people in the government of the EU, UK, and other member states, who are very upset on our behalfs! THE BEST THING WE CAN DO NOW Regardless of the specific motions of this petition, the thing we all want most right now is for UK to remain in the European Union. In order to achieve this it is critical that we are strategic, and that we continue to use our efforts - our support, our comments, our clicks - in the *most effective ways* possible... Both the EU and the UK are in the same extremely difficult position. They cannot play into the hands of the right-wing and anti-EU voices by appearing not to respect the will of the majority. Europe has much more to lose than the UK government: it is an alliance of 28 nations which has been going for 50 years. The UK government on the other hand rotates every few years, and *every major party is presently in tatters*. Politically, there has never been less to lose than there is now by going against the outcome of the referendum. As our European friends know, the UK almost certainly cannot initiate Brexit without first holding a parliamentary vote (whether the EU were to apply pressure or not). It is our constitutional norm, and to not do it would be extraordinary. This is why the MEPs of our neighbour states have been publicly calling upon the UK to "clarify its position". In private we can assume that this means "Are you going to go with the outcome of the referendum or not"? Therefore *by far the most effective thing* for us to do now is to put pressure on our own government to hold that vote, and to put pressure on our MPs to vote against Brexit! The easiest way to do that is to go to www.breentry.co.uk If you want to have more impact, email your MP personally (hell, email *all* MPs). Just Google "Find your MP" and you'll find their email address. Write a short personal message pleading them to vote against Brexit. Don't enter into political debate with them about how its economically bad for the country or isn't democratically valid, etc - they've heard all of the arguments already. Appeal to their heart. Tell them about your age and situation, or those of your children. Tell them about everything you believe you will lose. If you cant find the words, copy & paste your favourite comment from this petition. Keep it short and **put your plea in the subject line** - MPs and their PAs don't have much time and they are unlikely to read the actual emails if they get thousands. It's important that the message still gets across. WHAT CAN WE DO IF THIS DOESN'T WORK OUT? Whether Article 50 is triggered or not, UK Citizens will still have several months or years as European Citizens, during which to exercise their democratic rights at the European level. With 1 million signatories it is possible to submit a proposal for legislation directly to the European Commission, via a European Citizens Initiative or ECI (another democratic device of the EU you may not have heard of because nobody has told us anything much of substance about the EU). At present an ECI does not allow for Treaty change, only for legislation within the framework of the Treaties. However another petition (which we urge you to support) is challenging that. You can go to www.citizens-initiative.eu for more information. If Article 50 looks inevitable, and if the number of signatories to this petition grows to the point where rallying a million people to support an ECI looks realistic - and if we can come up with the right legal angle - then we will take things in that direction, and call upon you to help. We may well join forces with other groups who are almost certainly looking into taking this route. To be clear, the ECI route cannot prevent the UK from instigating Article 50, but it *might* be possible to redeem some of the rights that UK Citizens will lose in the withdrawal process, or to protect other EU Citizens from a similar fate in the future. THERE IS EVERYTHING TO PLAY FOR YET!