MORE than 2,000 people in St Helens have signed a petition calling for the government to cancel Brexit by revoking Article 50.

At the time of writing, the petition is approaching three million signatures.

On Thursday, the website crashed with the Parliament’s Petitions Committee tweeting the rate of signing is the “highest the site has ever had to deal with”.

In St Helens North, 1,116 people have signed the petition at the time of writing, equating to just 1.14% of the constituency.

Slightly more residents have signed the petition in St Helens South, with 1,272 signatures, equating to 1.25% of the constituency.

As the petition has far surpassed 100,000 signatures, Parliament will now consider this for a debate, although it is not guaranteed.

But hopes the petition may force the government to back-track on Brexit were dashed by Theresa May on Thursday.

Fielding questions from reporters in Brussels, the Prime Minister said she did not believe in halting the March 29 deadline after the EU offered an extension.

Asked by the Press Association whether she thought the public’s view had shifted towards revoking Article 50, Mrs May said: “If you look back to what happened in the referendum, we saw the biggest democratic exercise in our history.

“And there was a clear result that we should leave the European Union.

“We said here’s the vote, what is your decision, and we will deliver on it.

“And I believe it’s our duty as a government and as a Parliament to deliver on that vote.”

In December, the European Court of Justice ruled that the UK can unilaterally revoke Article 50, meaning it does not need the consent of the 27 other member states if it decides to stay in the EU.

And EU leaders said on Thursday that it could grant an extension from March 29 to May 22 on the condition that MPs vote for Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement next week.

However, the extension would only be granted until April 12 if MPs vote down the deal for the third time.

The UK could then leave the EU with no deal or a longer extension might be approved if Britain agrees to vote in May’s European Parliament elections.