More than one million people have signed a petition calling for Article 50 to be revoked and Brexit to be cancelled.

The petition has reached over 1,000,000 signatures in less than 15 hours, and has crashed the government site several times with approximately 2,000 signatures being added every minute.

It was launched on Wednesday evening after the Prime Minister addressed the British public and criticised MPs for not approving her Brexit deal.

Read more: Theresa May tells voters fed up with Brexit: 'I'm on your side' and urges MPs to back her plan

The Petitions Committee say the rate of signing is 'the highest the site has ever had to deal with'.

The petition reads: "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."

The Petitions Committee have confirmed that the crash is due to 'the number of people using the site'.

Taking to Twitter, they said: "We're very sorry that the site is still experiencing problems. We are working urgently to get it back up and running as soon as possible.

"As many of you have guessed, the number of people using the site has caused problems this morning.

"It's a mix of people reloading the front page to watch the signature count go up and people trying to sign petitions.

"Between 80,000 and 100,000 people have been simultaneously viewing the petition to revoke article 50.

"Nearly 2,000 signatures are being completed every minute."

READ MORE: ECJ ruling to revoke Article 50 rubber-stamped by the highest court in Scotland

Users attempting to access the campaign are being met with a '502 Bad Gateway' message and denied entry to the site.

The Herald: Users are met with an error messaging when trying to access the petition.Users are met with an error messaging when trying to access the petition.

And earlier this morning, others came across a maintenance message issued by the UK Government.

The Herald:

Any petition lodged that receives over 10,000 signatures prompts a government response, and those that pull over 100,000 signatures is considered for debate.

An ordinance survey map launched by ODI Leeds breaks down which areas of the UK are signing the petition.

The Herald: A hex map created by ODI Leeds/https://odileeds.org/A hex map created by ODI Leeds/https://odileeds.org/

Tom Forth, head of data at ODI Leeds wrote on Twitter of the findings: "A clear pattern, extremely concentrated in just a few places, and a very strong correlation with places that voted Remain. 

READ MORE: Andy Wightman: EU referendum was non-binding vote won by unlawful campaigning

"That map is one way of seeing it. But there are many others."

Famous figures on social media have urged their followers to sign the petition.

Actor Hugh Grant called on support alongside physicist Brian Cox and Scots comedian Limmy.

Brian Cox said: "I have no idea whether these things do any good, but after May's astonishingly irresponsible speech this evening I'll give anything a go."

READ MORE: European Court of Justice ruling: Brexit legal bid explained

"I’ve signed this petition to revoke A50 and deal with the consequences afterwards - referendum, election, whatever. I have no idea whether these things do any good but after May’s astonishingly irresponsible speech this evening I’ll give anything a go. https://t.co/1XuQW3vuve