MPs are today demanding extra time for people to register to vote in the EU referendum after "unprecedented demand" caused the website to crash.

David Cameron was among senior figures who urged individuals to sign up before the midnight deadline last night, but many were left frustrated after it suffered repeated problems.

A last-minute rush to sign up was stalled after the website failed, with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron among those demanding an extension today.

Mr Farron said it could be a "major blow" to the prospects of the UK remaining in the EU if young people were denied a say.

His party said all other Parliamentary business should be "put on hold" so that emergency changes could be rushed through.

The Government issued an online apology to those who experienced issues.

More than half a million people registered to vote yesterday, with just under a fortnight to go before the referendum on June 23.

A live usage site said more than 26,000 people were using the service with just five minutes to go before the midnight cut-off point, with more than 20,000 still on the site at 12.01am this morning.

Traffic peaked at around 10.15pm last night when there were more than 50,000 people on the registration page.

The service struggled as voters flooded the site, with pages taking longer to load before the site appeared to go down. According to the usage site the service began to recover before the deadline passed.

The Electoral Commission - which oversees the running of the referendum - said it was aware of the issue but pointed out that the deadline was set by Parliament in legislation.

Mr Farron said the situation had to be addressed urgently and called for registration to be extended by a day.

"Evidence shows younger people are overwhelmingly pro-European, and if they are disenfranchised it could cost us our place in Europe," he said.

"It could also turn them off democracy for life.

"Voters must be given an extra day while this mess is sorted out urgently."

Mr Corbyn - who had issued an appeal for last-minute registrations 30 minutes before the cut-off - said "the deadline has to be extended".

Some of those attempting to register found the message: "Sorry we are having technical problems. Please try again in a few moments."

Around 132,000 of the people who registered last night were aged under 25.

BREXIT CAMPAIGNERS HIT OUT AT ‘LOOPHOLE’

BREXIT campaigners said "enormous loopholes" in EU free movement rules opened the door to tens of thousands of people from countries outside Europe to come to the UK.

Since David Cameron entered Number 10, more than 140,000 permits have been issued allowing family members from outside the EU to come to the UK to join a European Economic Area (EEA) citizen.

In 2015-2016, the UK issued 30,879 EEA family permits, up by 47.8% since 2010-2011, according to official figures highlighted by Vote Leave.

An EEA family permit is valid for six months, although people can stay on once that has expired.

Former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith said: "These figures expose how the Remain camp have set out to deceive UK citizens.

"They continuously claim that the UK has complete control over immigration from outside the EU, this is simply untrue."

FARAGE ROW WITH ARCHBISHOP CONTINUES

NIGEL Farage has accused the Archbishop of Canterbury of "turning a blind eye" to sex attacks by migrants.

The Most Rev Justin Welby has accused the UKIP leader of giving "legitimisation to racism" for political ends, after Mr Farage suggested that staying in the EU could lead to mass sex attacks like those on New Year's Eve in the German city of Cologne.

The claim led to hostile questions from audience members in last night's live TV grilling of the UKIP leader, with some accusing him of "encouraging racism".

But Mr Farage rejected the Archbishop's criticism, telling ITV1's Good Morning Britain: "He hasn't read what I said, he hasn't studied what I said.

"He would do well if he wants to attack people, to attack the Roman Catholic Archbishop in Germany who has made some very strong comments on this subject.

"I'm sorry, this is the Archbishop who in his New Year's message on the 6th January didn't even make any mention of what had gone wrong in Cologne.

"It would appear to me he's one of those people who is prepared to turn a blind eye."

Giving evidence to the Commons Home Affairs Committee yesterday, Mr Welby accused Mr Farage of "inexcusable pandering to people's worries and prejudices" over his previous claim that the threat to British women of Cologne-style attacks was the "nuclear bomb" in the referendum campaign.

WILLIAM HAGUE BACKS REMAIN

VOTING for Britain to leave the EU would risk the "fragmentation" of the West at a perilous time, former Conservative party leader and foreign secretary William Hague has warned.

Lord Hague, who was seen as an arch Eurosceptic when he led the party in the 1990s and early 2000s, said that while he remained critical of the EU, Britain had since secured safeguards which made it "safe and possible" to remain.

"When I was leading the Conservative Party one of the great dangers to this country was domination by the European Union, of losing our democratic accountability in this country," he said this morning.

"Now I believe a greater danger is a fragmentation of the Western world in the face of terrorism and many other threats in the world including great economic uncertainty and threat.”