Dare call it treason: Tory wants life sentences for opposing Brexit

Christian Holliday’s petition, on the House of Commons website, calls for an amendment to the Treason Felony Act to make supporting UK membership of the European Union a crime.

Three days after its launch, the petition had gathered around 150 signatures - far short of the 10,000 required for the Government to respond or the 100,000 needed for the proposal to be debated in Parliament.

Explaining his initiative, the Guildford councillor said: “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.”

Treason felonies are less serious than high treason, but still carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The Act states that it is a treason felony to “compass, imagine, invent, devise, or intend” to deprive the Queen of her crown, levy war against the Queen, or “move or stir” any foreigner to invade the United Kingdom or any other country belonging to the Queen.

Mr Holliday’s petition got a hostile response from some social media users on Twitter, with one describing it as “more than a little undemocratic” and another saying: “You don’t seem to quite have the hang of this democracy thing.”