Brexit: Cheshire residents help to crash website by signing petition calling for Article 50 revoke

Cheshire residents have helped to crash the UK government petitions website this morning, as a surge of people signed a petition calling for Article 50 to be revoked.

At the time of writing, 14,726 Cheshire residents had signed the petition - entitled Revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU.

Residents in Chester were the most enthusiastic in our area about signing - some 1,578 had signed it at midday.

Figures show that roughly 58 per cent of people in Chester voted to remain in the EU referendum.

The petition - created on February 14 - began gaining signatures on Wednesday evening after Theresa May’s speech criticising MPs for not backing her Brexit deal.

The website has been intermittently crashing due to a high volume of traffic.

It calls on the government to revoke Article 50, and says: “The government repeatedly claims exiting the EU is 'the will of the people'.

“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.”

Some 1,533 people had signed it in Macclesfield , 1,352 in Warrington South, and 1,183 in Tatton.

In Weaver Vale 1,018 had signed, in Congleton 1,004 people had signed, in Crewe and Nantwich 880 had signed, and in Eddisbury 869 had signed.

The average number of votes per UK constituency was 1,150 at the time of writing - and the more pro-EU an area voted in 2016, the more signatures it tended to have.

At the time of writing, around a fifth of the total signatures were from people based in London.

After 2pm, the petition was closing in on attracting almost a million signatures.

Although the petition has little formal power, it may grab the attention of MPs.

Alan Wager, research associate at thinktank The UK in a Changing Europe, said: “What these results show is there is that voters remain unimpressed with the Brexit process so far.

“Where the petition has been signed, and the fact that places that voted Remain are most strongly represented, is no great shock.

“Equally, its value is in grabbing the attention of MPs and Westminster - the petition means they have to debate it, but doesn't compel Mrs May to take any action, no matter how many people sign it.

“But the fact revocation remains the only step that the UK can itself make unilaterally and independently - if the government's deal and no deal are ruled out - means that revocation could soon be entering the mainstream of British politics.

“As a result, this petition could be an important political symbol. The fact many of the constituencies that have a disproportionate number of signatures are bellwether electoral seats should give both Labour and the Conservatives pause for thought.”