A petition calling on the government to cancel Brexit and keep Britain in the EU has reached 5 million signatures.

The petition has the highest rate of signatures for a parliamentary petition on record and was already the most popular to be submitted to the parliament website.

At one point it was so popular that the website crashed.

The petition calls for the UK to revoke Article 50, the clause in an EU treaty which the UK used to trigger its withdrawal, giving the country two years to negotiate an exit deal.

If it is revoked, the UK will no longer leave the EU.


A rival petition to leave the bloc without a deal has received more than 500,000 signatures.

Thousands marched through London for a second EU referendum.

Margaret Georgiadou, 77, who started the petition, has said that she has received death threats over the phone.

She said that her Facebook account had been hacked on Friday evening when she received the threats, and asked: "Who wants Brexit so much that they are prepared to kill for it?"

Nigel Farage called the Brexit process 'a disgrace'

There was a surge in support for the petition following Theresa May's Downing Street speech on Wednesday, in which she pinned the blame on MPs for her move to seek a delay to Brexit, telling citizens: "I am on your side."

Shortly after this speech, "Revoke Article 50" began trending on Twitter.

Mrs May has repeatedly refused to reverse Brexit - pledging to deliver on the result of the 2016 referendum that saw more than 17 million people, 52% of those who voted, back the UK's departure from the EU.

Actors Hugh Grant and Jennifer Saunders promoted the petition on social media, as did physicist Brian Cox.

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The PM was not granted her preferred extension date of 30 June, instead being given a two-tier extension by EU leaders.

They softened the immediate threat of a no-deal divorce by offering a delay until 22 May if MPs pass a Brexit deal that Mrs May has negotiated with the EU.

'Not the time to change the captain' - Gove

However, many political analysts suggested that the EU's offer of a hard deadline of 12 April, if parliament rejected the deal again, was orchestrated to allow MPs to take control of the Brexit process.

Sky's Rob Powell wrote: "There can be no doubt that some cabinet ministers want Mrs May out and a caretaker prime minister to replace her."

Lidington: 'I don't have time for plotting'

But he added: "Plotting ministers have the same problem as plotting backbenchers - the lack of a workable plan to remove Mrs May."

So far, neither Michael Gove nor David Lidington - but of whom have been touted as successors to Mrs May - have put themselves forward for the role.