Since the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum, a number of demonstrations have taken place and organisations formed whose goal has been to oppose, reverse or otherwise impede that decision.
Since the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum, a number of demonstrations have taken place and organisations formed whose goal has been to oppose, reverse or otherwise impede that decision.
The first March for Europe took place in London on 2 July 2016, shortly after the Brexit referendum on 23 June 2016, and was attended by thousands of people. [1] [2]
The second March for Europe took place in London on 3 September 2016 and was attended by thousands of people. [3] It was one of a number of events to take place on the day, including rallies in Edinburgh and Birmingham. Pro-Brexit demonstrators staged a counter-protest at one location along the marching route. [4]
The Unite for Europe march, which coincided with the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, was held in London on 25 March 2017, and the Independent reported that police estimated 100,000 people attended. [5]
The People's March Ltd came into being in July 2017, [6] to help ensure that a march planned for 9 September 2017 in London went ahead. [7] The event began with a march from Hyde Park and was followed by speeches in Parliament Square, [8] emceed by British adventurer Graham Hughes. [9] The event was attended by thousands of people and was part of a series of protests dubbed "the Autumn of discontent". [10] Over 50,000 people took to the streets under the banner "Unite, Rethink, Reject Brexit" marching from Hyde Park to Parliament Square [11] followed by a rally with speakers from the remain movement and from across the political spectrum and received broad media coverage.[ citation needed ]
The StopBrexit Manchester march was held in All Saints Park, Manchester, on 1 October 2017, to coincide with the Conservative Party conference. The event consisted of a rally followed by a march through central Manchester, and finishing with a street party organised by local pro-EU groups. [12] An estimated 30,000 people took part in this event. [13] [14]
The StopBrexit Leeds march was held on 24 March 2018 in Leeds. The march assembled at The Headrow in central Leeds and ended with a rally at The Headrow, [15] [16] with thousands of people reported to have attended. [17] [18] Leeds for Europe organised the march. [15] [16] There were also anti-brexit protests on the same day in various other cities across the country, including Edinburgh, Ipswich, Exeter and Newcastle. [19]
On 23 June 2018, the second anniversary of the EU referendum, People's Vote organised a march and protest from Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square in Central London. Speakers included Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable, Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas, Labour's David Lammy and the Conservatives' Anna Soubry. The organisers said that at least 100,000 people attended the march. A smaller pro-Brexit march was held in London on the same date. [20] [21]
The People's Vote march was not designed to reverse the result of the referendum, but to hold a public vote on the final terms of the UK's EU exit deal. [22] The organisers said Brexit was "not a done deal" and Cable said "Brexit is not inevitable. Brexit can be stopped." [23] [ contradictory ] The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was criticised for not attending the march. [24]
Thousands marched through Liverpool on 23 September 2018 during the annual Labour Party conference in protest against leaving the EU. [25]
Another march against Brexit took place in Birmingham starting from Victoria Square on 30 September 2018 during the annual Conservative Party conference. [26]
On 20 October 2018, People's Vote organised the second march called The People's Vote March for the Future. Organisers claimed that 700,000 people attended the march jointly organised by People's Vote and the UK newspaper The Independent , although police were unable to verify the number. [27] [28] A later estimate, presented by the Greater London Authority and published in The Daily Telegraph, reported the number to be 250,000. [29] The aim of the march was to secure a vote on the final Brexit deal. The march organisers stated: "Whether you voted leave or remain, nobody voted to make this country worse off, to harm jobs, to damage the NHS, to affect the future of millions of young people, or to make this country more divided. The more the shape of the final Brexit deal becomes clear, the more it is clear that it will do nothing to improve social justice, reduce inequality, increase our standard of living, or create a better future for future generations." [30]
A number of celebrities, including Delia Smith, Ian McEwan, Sir Patrick Stewart and Charlie Mullins, stated that they would fund coach travel to London, to enable those wishing to attend the march to do so. [31] [32] If the organisers' stated estimate of the attendance was correct, then the event was the second-largest protest of the 21st century in the UK, after the "Stop the War" anti-Iraq War march in 2003. [33]
The third People's Vote march, also known as the Put It to the People march, took place in London on 23 March 2019. [34] [35] The main purpose of the march was to call for a second referendum. The organisers suggested that a million people took part; independent verification by experts in crowd estimation put the figure at between 312,000 and 400,000. [36] [37]
Another anti-Brexit march took place in London on 20 July 2019, with the message “No to Boris, yes to Europe”. [38] [39]
The fourth People's Vote march, again in London and this time known as the Let Us Be Heard march, took place on 19 October 2019, thereby coinciding with the planned vote in the House of Commons on Boris Johnson's revised withdrawal agreement. Organisers estimated a million people attended the march, [40] whose purpose was to demand a confirmatory referendum on the terms of withdrawal. [41]
Members of national groups, including Britain for Europe, European Movement UK, Open Britain, conduct joint campaigns in various towns and cities of the UK. [42] [43]
In March 2018 six national groups moved into a shared Remain office in Millbank Tower, London, in order to pool their resources for campaigning. [44] [45]
Launched in April 2018, People's Vote is a UK campaign group calling for a public vote on the final Brexit deal. The campaign comprises nine anti-Brexit groups, [46] including eight operating from Millbank Tower. The groups include the seven listed below, plus For our Future's Sake (FFS), InFacts, and Open Britain. [47] [48]
Britain for Europe was established shortly after the EU referendum. It is an independent pressure group and umbrella organisation for grassroot activists from around the UK. [49] It lobbies in favour of the UK remaining in the EU. [50] [51] The group organises marches, conferences, meetings, and national campaigns. It is a founding member of People's Vote. [52]
The Chair of Britain for Europe is Tom Brufatto. [53] Britain for Europe is organised from the grassroots membership. [52]
The organisation has about sixty member affiliated groups including: [54]
In January 2017, the affiliate group Leeds for Europe formed. It campaigns against Brexit in the city of Leeds and elsewhere in West Yorkshire. [60] Leeds for Europe is also affiliated to the European Movement UK.
European Movement UK is an organisation which campaigns in support of greater European integration and for reform of the EU. It is part of the European Movement International, which pushes for a "democratic, federal, enlarged European Union". [61]
Formed in 1949, it campaigned for Britain to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum and continues to oppose Brexit in collaboration with other major pro-European campaign groups such as Open Britain and Britain for Europe. [61]
Healthier IN the EU was co-founded in 2016 by Mike Galsworthy, Rob Davidson, [62] and Martin McKee. Its advisory board included former Chief Executive of the NHS in England Nigel Crisp, former Minister for Health John Bowis, former Chief Medical Officer for Scotland Harry Burns, former President of the Royal College of Physicians Ian Gilmore, President of Royal College of Psychiatrists Simon Wessely, and the editor of The Lancet, Richard Horton. Healthier in the EU is a grassroots organization making the health case for continued EU membership. [63] [64]
Shortly before the 2017 general election, Healthier IN the EU and Vote Leave Watch organised an open letter calling on the Conservative Party to commit to spending an extra £350m per week on the NHS after Brexit. The letter was signed by some of the UK's leading medical professionals. [65] The amount of £350m per week corresponded to the savings attributable to Brexit claimed by the Vote Leave campaign. Following the publication of the letter, foreign secretary Boris Johnson received negative press coverage for falsely claiming that the pledge was already in the Conservative Party election manifesto. [66]
Healthier IN the EU is a founding member of People's Vote. [45] [67]
Despite the name, Wales for Europe is a separate entity from Britain for Europe, and currently operates as a partner organisation to Open Britain. The chair is Geraint Talfan Davies. It currently employs a full-time director and part-time organiser based in Cardiff, and has 17 branches across Wales. [68]
Wales for Europe is a founding member of People's Vote. [45] [67]
Our Future Our Choice (OFOC) was incorporated as a company on 19 February 2018 [69] and is aimed towards young adults. [70] [71] Its four founding members are Femi Oluwole (spokesman), Calum Millbank-Murphy (spokesman), Lara Spirit (co-president) and Will Dry (co-president). [72]
Our Future Our Choice is a founding member of People's Vote. [67]
Scientists for EU is a pro-EU research advocacy group. It was co-founded by scientists Mike Galsworthy and Rob Davison on 8 May 2015, the day after the UK general election 2015. [73] [74] Its advisory board included high-profile UK scientists, including former EU chief scientific advisor Anne Glover, and MPs from different political parties. [74] Galsworthy articulated two concerns that Scientists for EU aimed to address: "first, a lack of clarity and cohesion within the community on EU benefits and Brexit risks; and, secondly, a lack of public understanding on the UK/EU relationship in science." [75]
Following the referendum, hundreds of scientists contacted Scientists for EU voicing concerns about the future of scientific research in the UK after Brexit, many saying they planned to leave the UK; for some, xenophobia was a significant concern. [76] [77] Programme Director Galsworthy concluded, "It is clear that the UK has overnight become less attractive as a place to do science." [76]
Scientists for EU has continued to publicize the benefits of EU membership for Britain and the negative consequences of Brexit for science and healthcare, including uncertainty over immigration and funding, and the loss of influence over EU regulations and policy. [78]
In February 2018 George Soros's Open Society Foundations donated £500,000 to a number of groups opposing Brexit including £35,000 to Scientists for EU. [79] [80]
Scientists for EU is a founding member of People's Vote. [67]
Right to Vote was a group of Conservative, Change UK and Independent MPs and Peers who advocate holding a referendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement. It was founded after the UK government lost the first parliamentary vote on the UK's withdrawal agreement with the EU. [81] [82]
Wooferendum was founded in August 2018 by Daniel Elkan. [83] The group is concerned with the welfare of pets when the UK leaves the European Union. [84] [ needs update ] The protesters and their pets of Wooferendum also joined the People's Vote march. [85]
In March 2019, an e-petition launched on the UK Parliament petitions website reached over 6 million signatures within a week, becoming the largest petition in UK history, and the fastest-growing. [86] [87] This surge in signatures has been attributed to a speech given by Theresa May which was perceived to accuse MPs of 'frustrating' Brexit. [88] The petition was later referenced by Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, who warned that the UK Government "cannot betray the six million people". [89] The petition was debated in Parliament on 1 April 2019. [90] The petition signatures reached 6,103,056 by 20 August, the closure date. [91]
David Wilkinson's full-length film Postcards from the 48% opened on 23 June 2018 at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and went on general release on 6 July 2018. [92] [93] The documentary was made by, and featured, members of the 48% of voters who chose Remain in the referendum. [94] A reviewer for The Times wrote that it "gives voice to the fears and the hopes of the nation's discontented remainers". [95]
Anti-Brexit campaigners gave away EU flags to audience members at the last night of The Proms in 2016, [96] 2017 [97] and 2023. [98]
The No. 10 Vigil campaign group, which holds regular demonstrations outside Downing Street, organized a boat trip on the Thames on 19 August 2017. [99] A subsequent boat trip occurred on 24 July 2018. [100]
Matthew Jim Elliott, Baron Elliott of Mickle Fell, is a British political strategist and lobbyist who has served as the chief executive of a number of organisations and been involved in various referendum campaigns, including Vote Leave.
The 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, was a referendum that took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar under the provisions of the European Union Referendum Act 2015 to ask the electorate whether the country should continue to remain a member of, or leave, the European Union (EU). The result was a vote in favour of leaving the EU, triggering calls to begin the process of the country's withdrawal from the EU commonly termed "Brexit".
Brexit was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Following a referendum held in the UK on 23 June 2016, Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020. The UK, which joined the EU's precursors the European Communities (EC) on 1 January 1973, is the only member state to have withdrawn from the EU. Following Brexit, EU law and the Court of Justice of the European Union no longer have primacy over British laws. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 retains relevant EU law as domestic law, which the UK can amend or repeal.
The 2019 European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2019 European Parliament election. It was held on Thursday 23 May 2019 and the results announced on Sunday 26 and Monday 27 May 2019, after all the other EU countries had voted. This was the United Kingdom's final participation in a European Parliament election before leaving the European Union on 31 January 2020, and was also the last election to be held under the provisions of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 before its repeal under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and was the first European election in the United Kingdom to be held on a day that did not coincide with any local elections since 1999. This was the first of two national elections that would be held in the United Kingdom in 2019 with the 2019 general election being held six months later in December 2019.
Leave.EU was a political campaign group that was first established to support the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union in the June 2016 referendum. Founded in July 2015 as The Know, the campaign was relaunched in September of that year with its name changed to "Leave.eu" to reflect altered wording in the referendum question.
After the British EU membership referendum held on 23 June 2016, in which a majority voted to leave the European Union, the United Kingdom experienced political and economic upsets, with spillover effects across the rest of the European Union and the wider world. Prime Minister David Cameron, who had campaigned for Remain, announced his resignation on 24 June, triggering a Conservative leadership election, won by Home Secretary Theresa May. Following Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn's loss of a motion of no confidence among the Parliamentary Labour Party, he also faced a leadership challenge, which he won. Nigel Farage stepped down from leadership of the pro-Leave party UKIP in July. After the elected party leader resigned, Farage then became the party's interim leader on 5 October until Paul Nuttall was elected leader on 28 November.
The result in favour of Brexit of the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum is one of the most significant political events for Britain during the 21st century. The debate provoked major consideration to an array of topics, argued up-to, and beyond, the referendum on 23 June 2016. The referendum was originally conceived by David Cameron as a means to defeat the anti-EU faction within his own party by having it fail, but he misjudged the level of public support for leaving, particularly amongst Labour Party voters. Factors included sovereignty, immigration, the economy and anti-establishment politics, amongst various other influences. The result of the referendum was that 51.8% of the votes were in favour of leaving the European Union. The formal withdrawal from the EU took place at 23:00 on 31 January 2020, almost three years after Theresa May triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty on 29 March 2017. This page provides an overarching analysis of the different arguments which were presented by both the Leave and Remain campaigns.
Open Britain is a British pro-European Union campaign group set up in the aftermath of the 2016 European Union referendum.
Best for Britain is a civil society campaign formed of researchers, data scientists, strategists, and activists who say that they are working to fix "the problems Britain faces after Brexit". Originally launched on 26 April 2017 to stop Brexit and continue the UK's membership of the European Union (EU), the organisation's aim since 2021 has been strengthening UK-EU ties as well as protecting democratic rights within the UK.
Leave Means Leave was a pro-Brexit, Eurosceptic political pressure group organisation that campaigned and lobbied for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union following the 'Leave' result of the EU referendum on 23 June 2016. The campaign was co-chaired by British property entrepreneur Richard Tice and business consultant John Longworth. The vice-chairman was Leader of the Brexit Party, Nigel Farage.
Russian interference in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum is a debated subject and remains unproven, though multiple sources argue evidence exists demonstrating that the Russian government attempted to influence British public opinion in favour of leaving the European Union. Investigations into this subject have been undertaken by the UK Electoral Commission, the UK Parliament's Culture Select Committee and Intelligence and Security Committee, and the United States Senate. "The Russia Report" published by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament in July 2020 did not specifically address the Brexit campaign, but it concluded that Russian interference in UK politics is commonplace. It also found substantial evidence that there had been interference in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
People's Vote was a United Kingdom campaign group that unsuccessfully campaigned for a second referendum following the UK's Brexit vote to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016. The group was launched in April 2018 at which four Members of Parliament spoke, along with the actor Patrick Stewart and other public figures.
Mike Galsworthy is the co-founder of Scientists for EU and Healthier IN the EU and a media commentator about the effects of Brexit on the scientific community in the United Kingdom, and is Chair of the European Movement UK. He is currently a visiting researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and was previously Senior Research Associate in the Department of Applied Health Research, University College London (UCL).
Steven Bray is a British activist from Port Talbot in South Wales who, in 2018 and 2019, made daily protests against Brexit in College Green, Westminster. He is variously known as Stop Brexit Man, Mr Stop Brexit, or the Stop Brexit guy.
A referendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement, also referred to as a "second referendum", a "rerun", a "people's vote", or a "confirmatory public vote", was proposed by a number of politicians and pressure groups as a way to break the deadlock during the 2017–19 Parliament surrounding the meaningful vote on the Brexit deal.
Revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU is a petition submitted to the UK Parliament petitions website calling on the UK government to revoke article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, and remain a member state of the European Union. Following the referendum of 23 June 2016, in which the electorate of the United Kingdom voted by 17,410,742 to 16,141,241 to leave the European Union, the United Kingdom invocation of Article 50 occurred on 29 March 2017. This set a deadline for leaving the EU of 29 March 2019 which was later extended to 31 October 2019.
"Bollocks to Brexit" is a meme and grassroots campaign slogan used by people opposing Brexit, following the result of a 2016 referendum.
Brexit was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020. As of 2020, the UK is the only member state to have left the EU. Britain entered the predecessor to the EU, the European Communities (EC), on 1 January 1973. Following this, Eurosceptic groups grew in popularity in the UK, opposing aspects of both the EC and the EU. As Euroscepticism increased during the early 2010s, Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a speech in January 2013 at Bloomberg London, in which he called for reform of the EU and promised an in–out referendum on the UK's membership if the Conservative Party won a majority at the 2015 general election. The Conservatives won 330 seats at the election, giving Cameron a majority of 12, and a bill to hold a referendum was introduced to Parliament that month.
Another Europe is Possible is a civil society organisation based in the United Kingdom which was founded in February 2016 to campaign for the 'Remain' option during the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, while also advocating for internal reform of the EU. The group describes itself as advocating a "Remain position in the EU referendum from a specifically left, progressive perspective" and came together to work "across party political lines to campaign for democracy, human rights, and social justice". It states that the EU requires "radical and far-reaching reform, breaking with austerity economics and pioneering a radically new development strategy". The group gained attention as a high-profile protest organising platform during the 2019 British prorogation controversy.
"Why the Government Believes That Voting to Remain in the European Union is the Best Decision for the UK" was a one-off pamphlet created in April 2016 by the government of the United Kingdom. The leaflet was created in anticipation of the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum in June, which would ask the British public whether the UK should leave the EU. After internal polling revealed that 85 per cent of the public wanted more information before making their decision, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the government would send a leaflet to households across the UK, explaining why remaining in the EU was the best choice for the UK. The leaflets were paid for by British taxpayers at a cost of £9.3 million, and were delivered across the UK in two waves: the first to households in England, and the second to households in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
