HALF A MILLION BRITONS DEMAND SECOND VOTE ON BREXIT
LONDON— About 570,000 Britons waved EU flags and packed the heart of London to demand a second vote on the plan of Prime Minister Theresa May’s government to leave the union.
The 570,000 turnout figure reported by campaigners makes the demonstration the largest since 750,000 showed up against the war in Iraq in 2003, according to police figures.
“This feels like a party,” said Liverpool university student LucyDogget in front of Westminster Palace. “But it could be our last one before the lights go out.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan called Saturday “a historic moment in our democracy” that united “every corner of our country and every section of our society.”
‘Misled’
The marchers came in buses and trains from across Britain and even other parts of the European Union.
They chanted and whistled while marching in support for causes ranging from women’s rights to Britain’s beloved but underfunded NHS health care system.
Some wore blue French berets decorated with the golden stars of the EU flag. Others stuck up signs lampooning May’s negotiating efforts.
Many of the posters featured variations on the famous “I have a cunning plan” line from the popular 1980s British comedy “Blackadder.”
Their point was that May seemed to have none at all just five months before Britain is to split from the European Union with or without an agreement of how future trade between the two will function.
Unfulfilled promise
And all seemed united in a simple message: the Brexit its supporters promised ahead of the June 2016 referendum that set the divorce in motion looked nothing like the one presented today.
“I think people were misled in various ways,” small business owner Peter Hancock said while tightening an EU flag around the neck of his dog.
“We want to stay European,” added his wheelchair-bound wife, Julie. “We can’t really see any benefits of leaving, can we, at all.”
Divided nation
An online petition demanding a binding vote on any deal agreed before the March deadline had been signed almost 950,000 times.
May has made it clear that she had no intention of allowing a Brexit do-over.
“They now want a second referendum to go back to the British people and say ‘Oh, we’re terribly sorry—we think you’ve got it wrong,’” she told parliament on Wednesday.
“There’ll be no second referendum. The people voted and this government will deliver on it.”
Yet many are not sure what May is actually delivering and European leaders are openly wondering if a second British vote might yet make the mess go away.
Polls show support for a second referendum evenly split—the same as with the Brexit vote itself.
In the 2016 poll, 52 percent of voters backed leaving on turnout of 72 percent.
But some think members of parliament may rally around another vote at the last moment.
Fiona Godfrey said Brexit would do permanent damage to her family life because new residence rules would make it impossible for her new German husband to ever settle in London.
“We would have to meet minimum income rules and I am self-employed,” said Godfrey.
“I’m losing my voting rights, my right to a livelihood, my freedom of movement—in Luxembourg, which you can cross in 15 minutes.”