Revoke Article 50 petition to halt Brexit hits six million signatures

The petition calling on the Government to halt Brexit and revoke Article 50 has passed six million signatures.

The Revoke Article 50 petition, due to be debated by MPs on Monday, is the biggest petition in the history of the House of Commons and Government's e-petitions website.

It passed the six million mark on Sunday morning.

Rejecting the often-repeated claim that EU withdrawal is the "will of the people", it calls for the revocation of the Article 50 letter informing the European Council of the UK's intention to leave.

The Article 50 letter can be withdrawn by the UK unilaterally, without the need for EU agreement, leaving Britain free to continue as a member on its current terms.

The petition 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 at one point.

A 2016 petition calling for a second EU referendum should the winning vote and turnout not reach a certain threshold had been the most signed petition, at almost 4.2 million.

The Revoke Article 50 petition also passed another proposal which sought to prevent Donald Trump from making a state visit to the UK, which had 1.9 million signatures.