More than a million people have signed a petition to force a second EU referendum within a day of the historic Brexit vote, making it the most popular ever to be recorded on the Parliament website.

It means MPs will be forced to consider the proposal in Parliament this summer.

The petition demands the Government re-stage the referendum because the winning vote for Leave was less than 60 per cent and was based on a turnout of less than 75 per cent.

By lunch time today the petition (pictured left) had already attracted more than 120,000 signatures. A heat map (right) reveals most of the signatures were from north London and areas with high numbers of students, such as Cambridge and Oxford

Vote Leave won the historic vote by 51.9 per cent of the vote to 48.1 per cent - a margin of 1,269,501 votes.

Turnout was 72.2 per cent in the referendum - a higher percentage than any general election since 1992.

The result revealed stark divisions between young and old, north and south, cities and rural areas, and university-educated people and those with fewer qualifications.

A map of the petition signatures showed that most came from England's major cities, topped by London where there is a separate petition calling on Mayor Sadiq Khan to declare the capital independent from the United Kingdom, and apply to join the EU.

Although the decision is not legally binding on MPs, it would be an act of political suicide for any group to attempt to override it and order a second referendum after months of hard-fought campaigning.

Protests were staged in Westminster, central London today as young voters called for a second referendum

As Britain reacted to the shock of the EU referendum result, one man was pictured in Westminster with a union flag bag with the slogan: 'Keep calm and carry on'

Any petition that receives more than 100,000 signatures within six months must be considered for debate by MPs in Parliament.

Any petition that attracts more than 10,000 in the time period requires a response from the Government.

By lunch time today the petition had already attracted more than 1,308,147 signatures.

The petition - started by William Oliver Healey this morning - states: ‘We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60% based on a turnout less than 75% there should be another referendum.’

The House of Commons Petitions committee will now be forced to consider staging a debate in Parliament on the proposals for a second referendum.

Their next meeting is on Tuesday after MPs return from a mini-recess, although it might have to wait until the following week to be discussed.

Remain supporters called for a second referendum despite Thursday's vote recording the highest turnout since 1992 (top tweet), but Labour MP Mike Gapes rejected the idea and said we must 'accept the result' (middle tweet). Meanwhile rival Brexit supporters were using the#EurogeddonCancelled hashtag on social media to highlight Thursday's Brexit vote had defied drastic warnings from the Remain camp of economic meltdown and international isolationism (bottom tweet)

The petition reflects the anger among the 16.1million voters who backed staying in the EU - particularly young voters in London and across Scotland, who overwhelmingly backed Remain.

Three in four 18-24-year-olds voted for Remain in the referendum and more than half (56 per cent) of 25-49-year-olds backing the pro-EU option, according to initial estimates of the vote breakdown by YouGov.

Meanwhile rival Brexit supporters were using the#EurogeddonCancelled hashtag on social media to highlight Thursday's Brexit vote had defied drastic warnings from the Remain camp of economic meltdown and international isolationism.

The crushing defeat for Remain led David Cameron to announce he was resigning as Prime Minister yesterday to allow a fresh figure to lead Britain into what could be two-years of negotiations with the EU about our new relationship with Brussels.

Boris Johnson has emerged as the front-runner and is very likely to be elected as Tory leader by the party's autumn conference.

It means the former Mayor of London could be Prime Minister by the start of October.

Protests took place in central London today against the referendum result - despite the vote recording the highest turnout since 1992

#ScotLond: Remain supporters launch online campaign for Scotland and London to join together and stay in the EU after they both voted against Brexit

Depressed Londoners are using the hashtag #ScotLand as part of a campaign for the capital to join Nicola Sturgeon's battle for independence from the UK.

London and Scotland voted to stay in the EU yesterday but a huge revolt by Middle England and Wales led to today's Brexit.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon today said she could call a new independence referendum within months - because thirds of Scottish voters backed staying in the EU yesterday.

Alliance? Sadiq Khan has already spoken to Nicola Sturgeon, who said today a new independence referendum is likely and said Scotland and London share a 'common cause'

Supporters: Some have even created their own logo for the ScotLond movement - others have encouraged Sturgeon and Khan to 'keep talking'

During a speech today she also revealed she had already spoken to London Mayor Sadiq Khan because there is a 'is clear common cause between us'.

Her comments gave hope to some who started using the hashtag #ScotLond, which began trending on Twitter.

Lucy Pasha-Robinson ‏tweeted: 'Do @NicolaSturgeon's discussions with @SadiqKhan mean #ScotLond is going to happen? Please? #EUref'.

Seyi Rhodes wrote: 'I'm so pleased to hear that @SadiqKhan has already spoken to @NicolaSturgeon about #ScotLondon'.

Dudley Cruse said: 'I know it's probably silly, but #ScotLond is the only thing giving me hope right now'.

@CaptainEllie tweeted: 'Half Scottish and my heart belongs to London, I'm all for #ScotLond'.

Workers in the Square Mile, the City of London, are bracing for months of pain as banks and financial institutions begin the process of considering whether to slash jobs or relocate to Europe in the wake of Brexit.

JP Morgan, HSBC and Goldman Sachs all said prior to the vote that thousands of jobs in the City of London could be moved to the continent in the event of Brexit.

All 32 local authorities in Scotland delivered a vote for Remain - Nicola Sturgeon this shows that her country was being pulled out against its will

False hope: Some comments were a light-hearted escape for Remain supporters after a devastating result for them

Sarah Phillips, partner at solicitors Irwin Mitchell, said the Brexit vote will have a 'big impact' on people working in Britain's financial services sector.

She added: 'Many banks, insurers and fund managers who have large businesses in continental Europe could consider relocating to Paris or Frankfurt and senior staff will either lose their roles or have to move to another country.

'Some global investment banks, such as JPMorgan, have said that Brexit would lead to a significant loss of jobs in the UK.'

HSBC boss Stuart Gulliver said in February that a vote to leave could see 5,000 London-based investment bankers move out of London to Paris. Jamie Dimon, head of JP Morgan, said earlier this month that up to 4,000 jobs could be hit.

Although banks have been cautious on Friday in making any brash statements regarding their future plans, experts are forecasting that large scale redundancies could be on the cards.

The Mayor of London's office has strong links with Europe, and even has offices on the continent to bring in business.

But he lacks the power to maintain links with EU and will not defy yesterday's vote.

A Labour source told MailOnline: 'What they were talking about was to push for Britain to stay in the single market going forward.

'But Sadiq has said he will respect the will of the people on this and that London will continue to be a success'.