Tory councillor accused of 'Orwellian censorship' for petition to make post-Brexit support for the EU 'treason'
Conservative councillor Christian Holliday is asking people to sign a petition to make it illegal for people "to imagine, devise, promote, work, or encourage others, to support UK becoming a member of the European Union."
In other words, he wants people to be charged with treason for supporting the bloc - which will have 27 member states once the UK leaves - after Brexit happens:
Please sign my petition to make supporting EU membership an offence after we leave:https://t.co/ZhbiB8eDQn #Brexit #Article50
- Christian Holliday (@CllrHolliday) October 15, 2016
If the petition gets 10,000 signatures, will have to respond to it. If it gets 100,000 signatures, parliament will be forced to consider it for debate in Westminster.
However, judging by the lack of signatures so far, and the response from fellow Tory members, the petition definitely does not represent all councillors - or official party policy.
"One of the traits that makes Britain 'great' is an acceptance and tolerance for different opinions. We've fought two world wars and intervened in many more international conflicts expressly to champion and defend the freedom of all, whatever their views," Conservative councillor Mario Creatura told Business Insider.
"For Cllr Holliday to want to lock up people for disagreeing with him smacks of the worst kind of Orwellian censorship. That kind of talk belongs in Assad's Syria or Putin's Russia, not in our United Kingdom. He doesn't speak for me or any other sensible Conservative."
Business Insider has reached out to Holliday for comment and will update this story if he responds.
Britain voted to leave the EU on June 23 and prime minister Theresa May said she is going to trigger Article 50 in early 2017 and thereby kick-off the two year negotiation process of exiting the EU.
NOW WATCH: Obama: Trump couldn't get a job at 7-Eleven
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- 10 benefits of incorporating almond oil into your daily diet
- From heart health to detoxification: 10 reasons to eat beetroot
- Why did a NASA spacecraft suddenly start talking gibberish after more than 45 years of operation? What fixed it?
- ICICI Bank shares climb nearly 5% after Q4 earnings; mcap soars by ₹36,555.4 crore
- Markets rebound sharply on buying in bank stocks firm global trends
- Nothing Phone (2a) blue edition launched
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market