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A petition calling on the Government to revoke article 50 has passed four million signatures.

Originally created on the 14th of February, the petition quickly began gaining thousands signatures on Wednesday evening after Theresa May’s speech criticising MPs for not backing her Brexit deal.

At one point the Parliamentary website hosting the petition crashed, due to the number of people attempting to view it and sign it at once.

Officials said nearly 2,000 people were signing every minute.

They added: “The rate of signing is the highest the site has ever had to deal with and we have had to make some changes to ensure the site remains stable and open for signatures and new petitions.”

The petition calls on the government to revoke Article 50, and says: “The government repeatedly claims exiting the EU is 'the will of the people'. Anyone wanting to view the petition can click here .

“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.”

Under EU law, the UK has to ask 27 EU leaders for extensions but can decide to revoke Brexit unilaterally.

(Image: Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

And EU chief Donald Tusk said this week that revoking Article 50 will be one of the options available if there is no deal by April 12 - but Theresa May has said she is against it.

Whilst the petition is flying, hundreds of thousands of people are set to march through London today calling for a People's Vote.

Organisers are expecting a huge turnout today, with protesters set to descend on Parliament Square demanding voters are allowed a final say on Brexit.

Birmingham MP Jess Phillips will be one of the main speakers at the march alongside Michael Heseltine, the Conservative former deputy prime minister; Independent Group MP Anna Soubry; Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable; Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, and Ian Blackford, the leader of the SNP in Westminster.

When asked about the petition, a spokesperson from Number 10 said: "The Prime Minister has long been clear that failing to deliver on the referendum result would be a failure of our democracy and something she couldn't countenance."

On Thursday, EU leaders said Brexit could be delayed from March 29 to May 22 - but only on the condition that MPs vote for Mrs May's deal next week.

If Ms May's deal is rejected in the third "meaningful vote" then the UK would have until April 12 to tell the European Council the way it wants to proceed.

If that is not forthcoming, the EU would prepare for a no-deal Brexit on May 22.

If it reaches 4.2 million, it will officially be the most signed Parliamentary petition in history. The current most popular petition was made before the referendum that said if the winning side had less than 60 per cent of the vote then a second poll should be held.

In October last year 700,000 people joined a huge demonstration in the capital calling for the same thing.

On Friday hauliers in favour of Brexit were supposed to shut down the motorway network - but not enough turned up and it made little difference to traffic around the country.