Politics

Pro-European Britons continue to speak out on the fourth anniversary of Brexit

By Judith Mora

London, Jan 31 (EFE).- On the fourth anniversary of Brexit, a group of Britons who dream of returning to the European Union demonstrated Wednesday in front of Parliament in London, many holding banners that read “Brexit, was it worth it?”

Waving European Union and British flags, with banners against the Conservative Party – which called the 2016 referendum – and megaphones, the activists shouted that while the political class was trying to turn the page, they were not forgetting.

Their protest in front of the Big Ben coincided with the entry into force on Wednesday of the border controls that the UK will now apply to EU imports.

According to the demonstrators, it was yet another reminder of the economic disaster that the divorce from Brussels has been.

The voice of resistance

Helen Johnston, treasurer of the “Bremain in Spain” group, told EFE that despite the apparent apathy of the deputies in the House of Commons, they are not going to throw in the towel.

“40 years ago, those (politicians) who were against the EU started their campaigns and it took them 40 years to achieve their goals. If we say ‘I give up, I can’t take it anymore’, who will continue to fight?” she told EFE.

Looking ahead to this year’s general election in the UK, none of the major national parties – Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats – are proposing a return to the Community bloc, and all are making efforts to avoid a debate that they fear will take away their votes.

“In this election year, they cannot say out loud that they are in favor of returning to the EU. But they are not stupid, they know that we are better off in Europe, for the economy, for security, for the environment, for all the opportunities for freedom of movement,” Johnston said.

“People are aware of all this, but they are not prepared to take the next step. We here, with our flags and our protests, are the voice that keeps saying: there are British people who want to come back, we are here, we are not going away,” she explained.

Boris Johnson’s legacy

Like her, well-known activist Steve Bray, who has been seen almost daily since 2017 outside London’s Parliament protesting against Brexit with a top hat and a loudspeaker, rules out a new referendum as the way forward.

“What I want is for the government to take the bull by the horns and make the decision to do what is best for the United Kingdom and for Europe. And that means being in the single market, being in the customs union and having freedom of movement,” he told EFE.

Bray, who finances his travels from Wales through funds raised online, finds it “disgusting” that politicians, including the previously pro-European Labour and Liberal Democrats, are avoiding tackling Brexit at all costs.

Still, he hopes to stop demonstrating if Keir Starmer’s Labour Party – a former supporter of a second plebiscite – wins elections after the summer and advocates a rapprochement with the Community bloc.

While the “resistance” made noise in the streets, Boris Johnson, who led the exit from the EU four years ago, celebrated on social media.

“Four years after Brexit, we celebrate the restoration of the democratic power of this country to make its own laws and rules,” Johnson wrote.

“We must retain the appetite and the courage to move away from the low-growth, high-regulation European model,” he added.

Johnson called for avoiding a return to formulas for managing trade relations that use “artificial concerns about the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland” (which must be invisible to preserve the 1998 peace agreement) as a pretext to keep the UK aligned with EU standards. EFE

Related Articles

Back to top button