Revoke Article 50 petition becomes most popular as it hits four million

It has had the highest rate of sign-ups on record, according to Parliament’s official Petitions Committee, adding over two million signatures in 24 hours.

The petition took the top spot from another proposal which called for a second EU referendum should the winning vote and turnout not reach a certain threshold.

By contrast, a pro-Brexit petition on the Parliament website which urges the government to leave the EU without a deal has received 455,000 signatories.

The prime minister ruled out halting the Brexit process when in Brussels on Thursday, telling reporters: ‘I do not believe that we should be revoking Article 50.’

Data provided by the committee on the location of signatories was paused on Friday to aid website operation after the official website crashed numerous times.

In a tweet, the House of Commons committee said approximately 96% of signatories were from the UK.

The website requires signatories to tick a box confirming they are a British citizen or UK resident and provide a name, email address, country and postcode.

The petition, started in late February, leapt in popularity following the prime minister’s appeal to the public on Wednesday where she told frustrated voters: ‘I am on your side.’

It quickly passed the 100,000-signature threshold needed for it to be debated in Parliament, with the official committee revealing nearly 2,000 signatures were being completed every minute over Thursday lunchtime.

Many celebrities and MPs have tweeted their support for Parliament to revoke the Treaty of Lisbon clause that deals with leaving the EU.

Hundreds of thousands of people have poured into the capital today to take part in the Put it to the People march.