Support had soared to more than 3.3 million online signatures by late Sunday for a petition urging the government to call a second referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU, despite the removal of 77,000 signatures for fraud.

“People adding fraudulent signatures to this petition should know that they undermine the cause they pretend to support,” lawmaker Helen Jones, who chairs a parliamentary petitions committee, said.

Jones said the committee would consider the petition next week and decide whether to hold a debate on it, adding that any debate “would allow a range of views to be expressed.”

Parliament is obliged to consider for a debate all petitions attracting more than 100,000 signatures.

The petition said the government should “implement a rule that if the ‘remain’ or ‘leave’ vote is less than 60 per cent, based (on) a turnout (of) less than 75 per cent, there should be another referendum.”

A majority of 52 per cent voted to leave the European Union, with a turnout of 72 per cent of the 46.5 million eligible voters.

The result brought leadership crises for the country’s two major political parties, Labour and the Conservatives.

Leading campaigners in the debate ahead of Thursday’s referendum, including Prime Minister David Cameron, who announced resignation on Friday, said a second referendum would not be possible.