London march demands ‘people’s vote’ on Brexit deal
LONDON — Tens of thousands of people marked the second anniversary of Britain’s EU referendum on Saturday with a march through London.
The march from Pall Mall to Parliament Square backed growing demands for a “people’s vote” on the final Brexit deal British Prime Minister Theresa May makes with Brussels.
At the head of the march was 96-year-old World War II veteran Stephen Goodall.
The anniversary was also marked by articles in major national newspapers by leading Brexit-supporting senior ministers, insisting Britain would be prepared to walk away without an agreement if a future deal could not be made with EU negotiators.
In the referendum on June 23, 2016, more than 17.4 million people backed Britain ending its membership of the EU, with 16.1 million supporting remain.
Britain’s International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said the government was not bluffing about being prepared to abandon trade talks. Speaking on the second anniversary of the referendum, Fox said it was essential the EU believed Britain was serious about the threat to walk away from negotiations with Brussels.
Writing in the Sun newspaper, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: “Across the country I find people who, whatever they voted two years ago, just want us to get on and do it.”
Johnson added people didn’t want a half-hearted, half-in, half-out Brexit in a political no man’s land, with no more British ministers round the table in Brussels, but still forced to obey EU laws.
“They want this government to fulfill the mandate of the people and deliver a full British Brexit,” he said.
On the streets of London there was an opposite message as speakers were cheered as they called for a public referendum on a final deal.
Co-organizer James McGrory from Open Britain, said: “The most important thing is that this isn’t decided just by 650 politicians in Westminster ... Brexit is such a big deal that should include all 65 million of us in the country, and that’s why people today are marching for a people’s vote.”
The Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday a new YouGov poll showed that two years on from the referendum the public are still as finely split on the decision to leave the EU as they were in 2016.
Polling from YouGov shows that 46 percent of the public believe that leaving the EU was the wrong decision, while 43 percent think that it was the correct decision.
The leaders of both Britain’s Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party oppose holding another Brexit referendum, though many members of both parties disagree. Smaller parties, including the Greens and the centrist Liberal Democrats, support having a new Brexit vote.