Music to Brexiteers’ ears as band booked to play us out

BREXITEERS have booked a live band to lead crowds in Parliament Square in a chorus of the national anthem to mark the UK’s departure from the EU.

The band is due to play God Save the Queen at 11pm on Friday Jan 31, as the centrepiece of a rally, led by Nigel Farage, the leader of the Brexit Party, to count down the last minutes of the country’s EU membership.

The rally is being organised by Leave Means Leave, a cross-party campaign.

However, the Greater London Authority is understood to have warned that any music must only be “incidental”, between speeches as Parliament Square does not have a licence for live music or performances.

Meanwhile, a crowdfunding campaign to cover the £500,000 cost of Big Ben being readied to chime on Jan 31 exceeded its halfway point yesterday, partly thanks to a £5,000 donation from Jeremy Hosking, a City financier and the biggest individual donor to the official Vote Leave campaign.

The parliamentary authorities had ruled out overriding ongoing refurbishment works in order to make the bell ready to ring out at 11pm on Jan 31.

But Rebecca Ryan, of the StandUp4Brexit campaign, which started the fundraising drive, argued that the “phenomenal response” to the campaign “warrants a vote on the matter in the House of Commons”.

Mark Francois, the Tory MP, said: “This fantastic outpouring of support shows how individuals making modest donations can help change history.”