On the evening of 8th April, ten days ago, someone posted this petition on my facebook page and at that point there was just over 4,000 signatures to which I added mine. We are now at 10 times that amount so we are meeting that many signatures a day and we have more than adequately passed the criteria for “Government responds to all petitions that get more than 10,000 signatures” but sadly they have not done so. However when Parliament reconvenes on Tuesday, albeit via video conferencing provision, they could of course discuss this matter if there was a request for them to do so from amongst the Parliament. However they don’t have to consider discussing it until it has 100,000 signatures at which point “At 100,000 signatures, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament”. So given there has been just over 4,000 signatures a day it would take another 12 days to get the remaining 53,607 signatures needed to hit that target. However we have our lockdown weekend over the next couple of days and indeed Parliament is not meeting on Monday so we have in effect a long weekend to address this. It would be great if by Monday night we could have hit the 100,000 signatures.

Please consider signing this petition which states:

Give NHS workers who are EU and other Nationals automatic UK citizenship if they stay and risk their own lives looking after the British people during the COVID crisis. The NHS is a great institution, but one that has been under great pressure for years. It could not function without staff who come from many different countries. Brexit has already affected morale for many. Due to the COVID pandemic, we are asking these NHS workers to risk their lives to look after the British people while their own families are far away. This is a chance for the British Government and Public to show them how much we appreciate their invaluable contribution to our society.

The current position in Sussex is that the most significant area of supporters is Brighton Pavilion which is the most significant constituency in the UK apart from Oxford East. In Sussex Pavilion is followed by Brighton Kemptown and then Hove. These are followed by Lewes, Hastings and Eastbourne and then Chichester. It would be fantastic to see a bit more support from some of the other 9 Sussex constituencies over the next few days.

It is important to use this to thank Gill Sare for raising this petition with five of her friends who also should be thanked.