Petition calling for Article 50 to be revoked and the UK to remain in the EU tops 750,000 signatures

A petition calling for Article 50 to be revoked and the UK to stay in the European Union has garnered over 750,000 signatures.

A surge of almost 200,000 people have backed it since yesterday’s twists in the Brexit saga.

This morning, over 2,000 people were putting their name to it every minute.

The demand to access it appeared to overload the site, with error messages displaying for many users.

The listing on the official parliamentary petitions website reads: “The government repeatedly claims exiting the EU is ‘the will of the people’.

“We need to put a stop to this claim by proving the strength of public support now, for remaining in the EU. A People’s Vote may not happen – so vote now.”

Among those backing the petition was Scots singer Annie Lennox, who tweeted: “I have just signed this petition to #RevokeArticle50 it’s currently gaining 100k signatures an hour! Please join me, sign & share (the site keeps crashing under the traffic so stick with it)”.

Parliament considers all petitions that get more than 100,000 signatures for a debate.

Yesterday, Theresa May asked the EU for a short extension to Brexit having failed to win backing for her withdrawal agreement.

But European Council president Donald Tusk said such an extension – until 30 June – would only be granted if MPs voted in favour of Mrs May’s exit deal.

Last night, the Prime Minister’s Downing Street statement, in which she blamed MPs for failing to implement the result of the 2016 EU referendum and told frustrated voters “I am on your side”, was described as a “low blow” by one former Tory minister.