A woman has failed in her bid to force Sefton Council to back a second referendum on Brexit.
Carolyn Burns, 39, had asked the council to consider a motion to support a ‘people’s vote’, however it was explained that this was not current Labour Party policy and that she would need a petition with a minimum of 2,000 signatures before it would even be considered.
Mrs Burns, who works for the NHS, told JMU Journalism: “I queried that number and they finally said it would be 500 signatures, so I submitted the petition to them and was invited to present that to them.”
To get approval for her motion, more than 33 votes needed to be in favour in the meeting at Southport Town Hall on Thursday. However, the overall result was 44 against Carla’s request, while just nine councillors agreed.
Her petition asks the council to seek all government departmental information and analysis pertaining to the impacts upon Sefton’s communities and businesses of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union.
Labour Councillor Ian Maher told the meeting: “The Conservative Party for this country at the moment are in chaos over this. We need to up the standards and know better about the Prime Minister and what she is thinking.”
YouTube: Lucy Jones
However, Liberal Democrat Councillor Iain Brodie-Brown countered: “It’s at risk as long as [Jeremy] Corbyn stays on the fence.”
Mrs Burns, who lives in Seaforth, says she has experienced EU members of staff leaving the NHS outlet where she works and making arrangements to move back to their country.
She said: “I work with our EU colleagues and talk to them about what is important and what would encourage them to stay, but we know the nursing and midwifery council register has had a massive decrease of 90% in the number of applicants since the referendum.”
With her petition being noted, Carla says she will continue seeking signatures and campaign to promote what the EU has done for the country over the last few years.
Mrs Burns has suggested that she will also stand for a new political party called ‘Renew’, whose primary aim is to help stop Brexit but also focus on renewing British politics and bringing people outside of this field to engage in and understand more about the political arena.
Twitter: Nina Killen
Passionate and timely speech from @CarlaJaneBurns at @seftoncouncil meeting tonight re #PeoplesVote. Lots of sympathy in the room for Carla’s concerns. Labour’s position is we want a GE to put us in control of the future negotiations to protect people, jobs and trade
— Nina Killen (@NinaKillen) November 15, 2018