Anti-Brexit billboards up in city

BILLBOARDS attacking the UK Government’s handling of Brexit have appeared in Cardiff.

The signs have been put up across the UK after members of a Facebook group raised nearly £70,000 in donations.

A total of 63 posters have been put up in prominent spots around the UK, in cities including London, Liverpool and Manchester.

Residents and motorists driving through Cardiff may have been in for a surprise at the weekend when they clapped eyes on the posters.

The signs have been erected on Ninian Park Road and Cowbridge Road East in the Welsh capital. They have also appeared on Swansea’s High Street. The Stop The Silence campaign was set up on Facebook in the aftermath of last June’s EU referendum result.

Members raised the money online in 10 days, with three individual donations of £1,000 and much of the rest from £5 or £10 contributions.

The stunt is intended to keep the pressure on MPs and Lords in the runup to Article 50 being triggered at the end of this month.

The group says it has also hired a mobile billboard van to drive around Parliament for eight hours a day for more than a week.

Organisers accuse the Government of going beyond the mandate handed to them by last year’s referendum, and highlight worries over rising hate crime and the impact that quitting the single market will have on the economy.

Liz Holmes, a 48-year-old writer from Ipswich, is the woman behind the Stop The Silence campaign.

She set up a crowdfunding page to raise the cash after seeing someone write a Facebook post calling for billboards to put pressure on the Government over its handling of Brexit so far. Within an hour, she said the post had thousands of likes.

She said: “We knew there was a huge appetite. We had to find a way to get this discussion off social media and into the streets.

“It’s been quite moving. It’s extraordinary that from a Facebook post you can actually find a way to reach millions of people.

“The entire debate has been shut down, so even people who voted Leave are not being included in the decisions.

“We want the wishes of the whole of the British people to be taken into consideration – not a deal that the majority of people don’t want.

“The referendum didn’t ask if you want to leave the single market, we didn’t vote for an increase in hate crimes or for the uncertainty now faced by millions of UK and EU citizens who do not know where they are going to be allowed to live.

“We demand that all options are on the table, and a meaningful vote on the outcome of the negotiations with the EU.

“Parliament must hold the Government to account as it debates the Article 50 Bill this month. If they won’t, who will?”

In a separate strand of the campaign, a YouTube video launched early last week featuring volunteers has already attracted more than 170,000 views. It was due to be sent to every MP and peer in Parliament at the weekend.