This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
'Exit from Brexit': thousands attend pro-EU demonstration in London
Calls for unity as thousands attend anti-Brexit rally in London
(about 1 hour later)
Thousands of anti-Brexit marchers are descending on Westminster to demand that Britain stays in the European Union.
Opponents of Brexit who turned out in their tens of thousands for one of the largest marches yet against Britain’s withdrawal from the EU have been told they need to “listen and understand” leave voters and bide their time for a referendum on any deal that may emerge.
Organisers estimated at least 50,000 protesters were marching through central London before converging on Parliament Square on Saturday for a rally. Later, Sir Bob Geldof and the Liberal Democrat former cabinet minister Sir Ed Davey will address the crowds gathered in the square.
The plea, met with polite applause from many in the crowd in Parliament Square, came from the Liberal Democrat MP Ed Davey. He said his emotions had shifted from “anger to distress, from fury to despair” and then to embarrassment at the Brexit negotiations.
The People’s March For Europe carries the message “unite, rethink and reject Brexit” and organisers said leaving the EU “no longer holds credibility inside Westminster, let alone on the streets of Britain”.
Davey told a sea of demonstrators clad in the blue and yellow of the EU flag that the odds, and the parliamentary arithmetic, were even more stacked against them than before.
It comes days after politicians returned to parliament following the summer recess and ahead of a critical Brexit vote. MPs will vote on the repeal bill, formally known as the EU (withdrawal) bill, on Monday for the first time, amid concerns over the progress of Brexit negotiations.
But he said: “We need to be a unifying force and that means that we need to listen to the other side. We need to understand where they come from and listen in a way that heals the wounds and reunites our country.”
A sea of blue and yellow Remainers amassed outside the Houses of Parliament, some draped in EU flags, while others held them aloft. Blue wigs, berets and other headgear were in abundance, as were “exit From Brexit” placards. A few could be seen wearing blue T-shirts with the words Remoaner Till I Die.
There was gutsier cheers however for bawdy chants led by other speakers who echoed slogans such as “Bollocks to Brexit” and who called for more protests outside parliament as the legislation passes through parliament.
Ahead of addressing the rally, Sir Vince Cable, leader of he Lib Dems, said: “I think a lot of the people who are dealing with it directly and who don’t necessarily have a political axe to grind are pretty horrified actually because they see the potential for disastrous negotiations,” he said.
Organisers estimated that at least 50,000 protesters marched through central London to converge on Parliament Square.
“They realise Britain doesn’t have a very strong hand in these negotiations and they are worried about the future of the country, as I am, as these people are.”
The People’s March For Europe carried the message “unite, rethink and reject Brexit”, and organisers said leaving the EU “no longer holds credibility inside Westminster, let alone on the streets of Britain”.
In reference to people in other political parties, Cable said: “They go along with Brexit because they say, ‘well people in my constituency voted for it,’ but deep down they are really, really worried about the consequences.”
In the crowd – a largely white, often self-admittedly middle class one – the raw emotion and despondency of many remainers was all too evident, with many sharing stories of how the vote had directly affected their lives.
His comments come at a critical moment for Brexit, while concerns are growing over the lack of progress in the negotiations.
Carole White, 73, from Southend, said others in her generation – which backed leave in larger numbers – were harking back to a bygone age. “I have travelled all over Europe in my life and in Poland there were people who were nostalgic for communism. It was because they longed for a time when they were young, which they had good memories off and had no responsibilities. It’s the same here,” she said.
Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, made clear the government’s urgent wish to negotiate talks on trade, suggesting article 50 set out a legal duty to discuss the future relationship concurrently with withdrawal issues including citizens’ rights, a financial settlement and the Irish border.
Danny Serieux, 52, from London used a word that most people reached for when asked to describe what they felt about Brexit: “devastation”. He said the money he sent to relatives in St Lucia was no longer worth as much after the decline in the value of sterling. “Brexit isn’t a holy cow. It has to be stopped, and why shouldn’t it be stopped if it is a disaster for our country,” he said.
He spoke after senior European figures, including the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, voiced scepticism that talks would move on to trade relations by October, as hoped, as they have so far failed to deliver sufficient progress on withdrawal issues.
Kate Matthews, marching with her friend Kirsty Morrison, both 31, said the vote had affected her too. “I lost my job because I worked for an international company that had been based here,” she said. She was now looking into qualifying for an Irish passport through her ancestry.
Theresa May, meanwhile, was forced to rule out sacking ministers or aides suggested to be involved with a letter signed by between 30 and 40 Tory MPs, which set out demands for what was seen as a hard Brexit that differed from government policy.
Rosie Niven, mother of eight-month-old Aida who was wearing a remain sticker on her beanie hat, said: “I work for a higher education company and we knew what Brexit would mean for that industry, so there was a lot of despondency on the morning after the vote.
Cable said there was now a swelling of people deeply alarmed about the direction of negotiations and the confusion and disunity in the government.
“Personally, I just also feel sad about the potential loss of being able to freely work and live in other countries. It was something that we had been strongly considering doing next year as a family. It was quite early in my pregnancy with her when the referendum result came through and we thought immediately of what it could mean in future.”
Public opinion would shift as more businesses held back investment and high quality EU citizens joined an exodus from the country, he said.
In a separate development, more than 30 Labour MPs have challenged David Davis over his “downright absurd” claim after last year’s referendum that Britain could negotiate a free trade area “massively larger” than the EU, to come into force before the end of negotiations.
Davis made the claim last July before being appointed Brexit secretary. The government and potential trading partners have since been forced to admit that no deals can be negotiated while the UK remains a member of the EU.
Ministers have also said Britain would not be able to implement any agreements until after a proposed customs transition period, which would follow the formal exit in March 2019.
In a letter to Davis, the MPs, who support the Open Britain campaign for close ties with the EU, said: “The government’s Brexit strategy has for months been characterised by delusional wishful thinking.
“But probably no pledge you have made is as downright absurd as the promise that Britain would be in the process of concluding trade deals with major economies over a year before we even leave the EU.”
One of them, Chuka Umunna, added: “The claims and promises the likes of David Davis made to the British people are simply not deliverable.”
