Star Patrick funds coach to anti-Brexit protest
HE’S been outspoken on his feelings about Brexit.
And now Sir Patrick Stewart is helping Huddersfield people make their feelings known by funding a coach to London for an anti-Brexit march.
The Put it to the People march takes place on Saturday, March 23, when protestors will be calling for a people’s vote on the final Brexit deal.
The Mirfield-born actor said: “I’m delighted to sponsor a coach from Huddersfield to help get people to the Put It To The People march.
“The damage Brexit is already causing to our communities and country is clear. Businesses are closing, companies are cutting staff, the NHS is suffering and the opportunities for future generations of travelling, working and living across Europe without restrictions are at risk.
“The Put It To The People march may very well be our last chance to demand a democratic final say on this mess before it’s too late.
“This is high noon for Brexit – when anyone who cares about the future, anyone who feels betrayed by broken promises in the last referendum, anyone who wants to prevent years more of this madness should come to make their voice heard. It’s now or never.”
It’s the second coach Sir Patrick has funded – last October he paid £1,000 for a coach to take people from Huddersfield to the capital for a similar march.
He’s one of many celebrities who have funded coaches from their home towns to London to take part in the protest.
Other sponsors include actor Jason Issacs; broadcasterJoan Bakewell; advertising executive and film producerTrevor Beattie; comedian and actor Steve Coogan; businessman and chair of Stoke City FC Peter Coates; chairman of tech firm Westcoast PLC and vice president of Chelsea FC Joe Hemani; director Armando Iannucci; and chef and majority shareholder of Norwich City Football Club, Delia Smith.
More than 160 coaches have already been booked by local campaign groups, to get people to the march from across the UK. A train has also been chartered, which will bring more than 500 people to London from the West Country.
Organisers of the march say they have been taken aback by the numbers of people signing up for the demonstration from leave-voting areas. Coaches are travelling from places including Chesterfield, Doncaster, Lincoln, Peterborough, Stoke and Sunderland, which all voted to leave the EU by heavy margins in 2016.
One man, Edmund Sides, is walking there from Swansea.