World Watch
Demanding New Brexit Vote, Thousands March In Streets Of London
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of London to demand a second vote on Britains departure from the European Union.
Thousands of people joined the march to Parliament Square to mark the second anniversary of the Brexit vote. The capital’s streets were filled with swathes of EU flags and banners and creating a sea of yellow and blue down Whitehall, the Independent reported.
The anti-Brexit campaigners demanded a “people’s vote” on whether to approve the final deal Prime Minister Theresa May strikes with the EU, if an agreement is struck at all.
The organisers, People’s Vote, said Brexit was “not a done deal” and people must “make their voices heard”.
It came as senior Cabinet ministers, including Liam Fox and David Davis, insisted that the UK was prepared to walk away from talks without an agreement.
The protest was part of a “summer of action” by campaign groups designed to increase pressure on May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
World War Two veteran Stephen Goodall, 96, led the pro-EU protesters as they headed from Pall Mall to Parliament Square. Actor Sir Tony Robinson and Gina Miller, who successfully campaigned to ensure the UK could not trigger talks on leaving without the approval of Parliament, were expected to be speak at the demonstration.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable, Tory former minister Anna Soubry, Labour’s David Lammy and Green co-leader Caroline Lucas were also expected to attend the event, reports said.
The march came as a survey of voters found some 48 per cent wanted a referendum on the final deal, against 25 per cent who did not want another vote.
Britain is due to leave on March 29, 2019, 46 years after it first joined the European Economic Community, the forerunner to the EU.
The government is giving Parliament a vote on the final deal, if one is reached, later in the year. But it remains unclear what will happen if they reject it.