European Council President Donald Tusk has told MEPs that there is an 'increasing majority' of British people who want to remain in the European Union, citing a million-strong march and a petition signed by six million people. However, these figures have been heavily disputed by crowd control experts and a Mail reporter who found the petition could be signed multiple times.
Speaking in Strasbourg, Tusk said: 'You cannot betray the six million people who signed the petition to revoke Article 50, the one million people who marched for a People’s Vote, or the increasing majority of people who want to remain in the European Union.' He argued that these Britons 'must feel that they are represented by you in this chamber because they are Europeans.'
But crowd analysts have dismissed the one million figure for Saturday's march. Andrew Seeds of Hornersalus said it was 'extremely unlikely' that one million attended, estimating between 312,000 and 400,000. Dutch specialist Eric Kant put the number at 200,000 to 300,000, and also claimed a previous march in October had around 105,000, not the 700,000 claimed by organisers.
The petition to revoke Article 50, which has nearly 5.9 million signatures, has also been questioned. A House of Commons spokesman said hundreds of thousands of signatures are from people who do not live in the UK, and a Mail reporter was able to sign multiple times using different email addresses.
Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman criticised Tusk's speech as 'a disgrace' and 'shameful interference in our internal affairs', adding that it would 'merely encourage Brexiteers to get out faster.' EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker also waded in, comparing Britain to a 'sphynx' that would be 'an open book by comparison.'
