THE deadline for registering to vote in the EU referendum is to be extended to midnight tomorrow, Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock has announced.

A peak of around 50,000 people tried to access the Government's website to register to vote following last night’s ITV programme featuring David Cameron and Nigel Farage.

The site crashed shortly after 10pm meaning that that the midnight deadline passed with tens of thousands of people potentially deprived of the ability to vote in the EU referendum on June 23.

In the Swindon area 1,700 people registered to vote between 5pm yesterday and 1am today, according to a borough council spokesman.

The change to the deadline is expected to require emergency legislation and a statement was being made to MPs by Leader of the Commons Chris Grayling to set out the procedure for implementing the change.

Mr Hancock said: "Following discussions with the Electoral Commission and strong cross-party support expressed in the House of Commons, we will introduce secondary legislation to extend the deadline for voter registration until midnight tomorrow.

"Having taken the decision today, we think it is right to extend to midnight tomorrow to allow people who have not yet registered time to get the message that registration is still open and get themselves registered."

Downing Street said 214,000 people were trying to use the www.gov.uk/register-to-vote website yesterday between 9pm and 10pm but it was not known how many were prevented by the system overload from registering before the midnight deadline.

Robert Buckland, MP for South Swindon, said today: “I was very concerned to hear about these problems so I looked into the legalities this morning.

“Emergency legislation that would have to be passed by Parliament would be needed to change the rules which are, quite properly, applied to the letter of the law.

“Time is very tight indeed for this to happen however. The Prime Minister has confirmed that conversations with the Electoral Commission are being held and has encouraged people to carry on trying to register.”

Addressing MPs in the House of Commons during Prime Minister's Questions earlier, David Cameron said that his aim was effectively to extend the deadline for participation in the vote which was originally set for Tuesday at midnight.

Brexit campaigners accused the Government of trying to "skew" the result of the EU referendum by extending the deadline.

The chief executive of the Vote Leave campaign, Matthew Elliott, said the Government was "trying to register as many likely Remain voters as possible" amid speculation that thousands of those prevented from registering were younger people who are thought to be more likely to back EU membership.

In a message to supporters, Mr Elliott urged them to get Brexit-backing friends and family to apply for a vote, with the message: "Don't let the Government skew the result of the referendum - make sure you and your friends are all registered today."

Alex Robertson, director of communications at the Electoral Commission, said: "No-one should miss out on voting in this historic referendum because of the problem with the Government's registration website last night. We said this morning that legislation should be introduced to extend the registration deadline and we're pleased the Government will now be making this change.

"We are urging everyone who is not already registered to vote to take this last chance to do so before the end of Thursday."

And Shadow voter registration minister Gloria De Piero said: "We welcome the Government's decision to listen to Labour's call to extend the deadline for voter registration.

"Following the chaos of last night, tens of thousands of people will be relieved that they will have a say in this crucial vote.

"We urge everyone who thinks they are not on the register to get back on that website and have their say."

If you want to register to vote visit www.gov.uk/register-to-vote