A PETITION which calls on Theresa May to cancel Brexit has received thousands of signatures from Northwich residents.

The petition on the Parliament website has received the highest sign-up rate on record, with more than 3.33 million people pledging their support so far (3.30pm, Friday). 

It calls on the Prime Minister to revoke Article 50 with just a week remaining until the UK is set to leave the European Union.

Thousands of residents in Northwich constituencies have signed the petition.

The Weaver Vale constituency, which covers the majority of Northwich, has seen 4,176 people sign the petition so far, amounting to 4.74 per cent of its constituents.

Tatton, which covers Northwich areas such as Rudheath, Barnton, Wincham and Lostock, has seen 5,253 people sign the petition, amounting to 6.17 per cent of constituents.

Eddisbury, which covers Sandiway, Davenham and Moulton, has seen 3,969 people sign the petition, which makes up 4.61 per cent of all constituents.

The 3.33 million who have signed the petition make up around 5.04 per cent of the UK population.

All figures are correct as of 3.30pm on Friday.

Data from the petitions website shows support for the petition concentrated in London and constituencies around Cambridge, Brighton, Bristol, Oxford and Edinburgh.

In the 2016 referendum, these six cities were also in favour of Remain.

The Petitions Committee said nearly 2,000 signatures were being completed every minute over Thursday lunchtime, crashing the website because of the unprecedented hit-rate.

It quickly passed the 100,000-signature threshold needed for it to be debated in Parliament.

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 it is rejected in the third "meaningful vote" then the UK would have until April 12 to tell the European Council a way forward.

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An extension could continue for several more months if Britain agreed to vote in May's European Parliament elections.

A House of Commons spokesman said: "We know that the petitions website has been experiencing problems due to the number of people using the site.

"This is a mixture of people signing petitions and refreshing the site to see changes to the number of signatures.

"The majority of people are now able to use the website and we and the Government Digital Service are working to fix any outstanding problems as soon as possible."

The petition can be found here.