What a summer it’s been. At the end of June the March for a People’s Vote brought hundreds of thousands to London to demand a final say on the Brexit deal (or no deal!), and was widely reported in the media. This was followed swiftly by the announcement of the Chequers “deal”, which quickly unraveled as David Davis and Boris Johnson resigned, followed swiftly by Donald Trump’s visit, when the UK was only saved from total humiliation by the huge protests against him in London and across the country.
These events have all contributed to a real change in the public mood on Brexit. Not only do polls show that a huge majority if voters think that the Government is handling Brexit very badly and won’t get a good deal, that a majority think Brexit is a mistake and a large majority favour staying in the EU over a no deal Brexit, but also that a majority now support a referendum on the Brexit deal with the option of staying in the EU. Can it really be democratic to press ahead with Brexit when most people in the UK think it’s a bad idea and what a final say before it happens? We don’t think so and it seems the majority agree.
Over the summer we’ve held several campaign events, leafleting and collecting signatures for the People’s Vote Petition during the Cambridge Big Weekend on 14th July and outside the Cambridge Folk Festival on the 4th and 5th of August (where “Bollox to Brexit stickers were very popular!), as well as joining with our friends in Southeast Cambs for Europe and Ely for Europe to leaflet the whole of Burwell on 11 August.
Our summer of action culminated in our action day in Cambridge on Saturday 25 August, part of a national People’s Vote event involving more than 100 grass roots groups right across the UK. Two dozen of our members and supporters gathered at our stall outside the Guildhall in Market Square to collect petitions and leaflets, before fanning out across central Cambridge. Several of us stayed at our stall, where we set up our Brexitometer to see what people in Cambridge think about Brexit by placing a sticker in the box that matches their opinion.
While the results can hardly be considered scientific, the number of people who added their sticker told its own story. As our volunteers returned from collecting signatures for the People’s Vote Petition, handing out leaflets and chatting to people across Cambridge they had the same message. While most people in Cambridge have always known that Brexit is a bad idea, what has changed is that far more people now see a People’s Vote as something that we can and should have, and that Brexit can be stopped.
This is very encouraging. As the Brextremists plot to oust Theresa May and force a no deal Brexit, and concerns over a potential Blind Brexit” in March 2019 increase, opposition to Brexit is also growing and making itself heard. We cannot be ignored!
We would like to thank the two dozen campaigners who joined us on 25th August, the dozens more who joined our other campaign actions this summer, and the scores who have taken leaflets to distribute in their own neighbourhoods. The change in public opinion is due to you and people like you across the UK who have not “got over” the damage being inflicted on our country and the harm being done to our friends. There is a lot more hard campaigning to do, but the tide has turned!
