UK petition for another referendum gains pace as EU founding members meet in Berlin

More than a million people in Britain have now signed a petition calling for a second referendum on the UK's membership of the EU.

UK petition for another referendum gains pace as EU founding members meet in Berlin

Update 11.40am: More than a million people in Britain have now signed a petition calling for a second referendum on the UK's membership of the EU.

The parliamentary petition website crashed at one point due to the surge of people adding their names.

Under UK law, the British parliament must discuss issues raised by petitions with more than 100 thousand names.

Earlier Foreign ministers from the six founding member states of the European Union will meet in Berlin later.

They are keen for the UK to leave the union as quickly as possible following Thursday's referendum.

David Cameron Is due to visit the European Council next week for talks.

President of the European Commission Jean Claude Juncker has said swift negotiations are needed, warning this is not an "amicable divorce"

“We now expect the United Kingdom Government to give effect to this decision, as soon as possible however painful that process may be.

Meanwhile in the UK, More than half a million people in the UK have signed an online petition, calling for a second EU referendum.

It will be considered for debate in Parliament, as it has received more than the 100,000 required.

The House of Commons petitions website crashed last night, as people tried to sign the document.

Young people say they have been marginalised by the EU referendum - because it didn't reflect their voting patterns.

A YouGov poll in the UK shows 75% of 18 to 24-year-olds voted to remain.

That compares to just 39% of those aged 65 and over.

While this is going on, the rating's agency Moody's has downgraded the UK's rating from "stable" to "negative" after it voted to leave the EU.

It said Thursday's decision will lead to a period of uncertainty and would slow down the UK's economy.

There are questions over whether Northern Ireland will hold its own referendum on whether to leave the EU.

56% of the electorate in the North voted to remain in Thursday's EU referendum.

Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese says there are a lot of questions about what Northern Ireland will do next: “Is there for example the possibility that both Scotland and Northern Ireland which expressly wish to remain within the European Union, could still do so and remain within the United Kingdom.

However, here at home Dublin MEP Brian Hayes has said we will only really see the effects of the 'Leave' vote when the dust settles next week.

He says there is still a lot of uncertainty and that the markets will paint a clearer picture form Monday.

Mr Hayes said that Irish exporters will almost certainly be badly hit: “I don’t believe expert or anyone in the know who claims they know what is going to happen, no one knows what is going to happen.

“I think there is as much risk for the markets as much risk for our own economy from next Monday of next week, so it is a period of uncertainty, a period when Sterling continues to devalue.

“And that has real repercussions exporters exporting to the UK.”

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