But some people have raised questions over signatories’ authenticity, with petition data revealing a number of names appeared to be countries.

Speaking to BBC 5Live, Dr Daniel Gardham, from the Surrey Centre for Cyber Security, said that while only British citizens or UK residents could sign parliamentary petitions, checks were “quite minimal”.

“It’s self-declaration at the top of the form,” he said. “So if you are not perhaps a British Citizen it would be quite easy for you to fill this out nonetheless.”

Dr Gardham added it was important for systems to balance usability with security considerations.

“Actually this isn’t the deciding factor in whether we see change, whether we see another election,” he said, adding that there was “no harm in Parliament discussing it”.