Thousands attended the People’s Vote March in London on the 20th of October looking to convince Parliament to repeat the Brexit referendum.
Nearly 700,000 remain supporters arrived in London in late October in the biggest anti-Brexit march yet. The March is also the second biggest march in the UK in the last century, only surpassed by the Stop the War demonstration in 2003.
People from all walks of life, looking to show their disdain for how Brexit negotiations have developed over the past two years, wanted to make it clear that they believe the best decision is to have a second attempt at a referendum now that the public has more information.
Protesters marched from Park Lane to Parliament Square where they heard speeches from people in support of the People’s Vote. Attendees to the march like Ian Stotesbury, a Liberal Democrat Councillor, stated the importance for a second referendum since “80% of young people don’t want Brexit.” Now that many of those young people are of voting age, is it right to give them a chance to have their say?
Demographic shifts since 2016 show that the number of Remain supporters “grows by 235,000 each year, while the number of Leave backers falls by 260,000” (The Independent, 2018). Three years after the original referendum, such a shift suggests that perhaps there is not such a desire for Brexit any longer. In fact, a poll in 2018 showed that the U.K. “would now vote 54-46 to stay in the EU” which is a small margin but still larger than the results of the original vote (The Independent, 2018).
Students who were unable to vote due to the age restriction felt being at the march was “the only thing [they] could do” to show their support, since they couldn’t have their say in 2016. They also explained that they it seems that “lots of people feel very mislead by the original referendum.”
It is not just the majority youth who want to remain anymore. Much of the People’s Vote March was led by people of the age group that typically voted to leave. One such marcher named Michael Winfield explained that though some say the European Union is undemocratic, “we hopefully can change that.” He went on to say that if parliament were to let the U.K. down “then we need another referendum” but Winfield has hope that parliament will “see sense” and “do the right thing for our country.”
Large campaigners such as Femi Oluwole were present too. Femi believes that “it’s not too late” to have another chance at deciding if leaving the European Union is the right choice.
With developments going as they are now, whether a second referendum is going to happen is seeming less and less likely. This does not dampen the hopes of those who strongly believe the People’s Vote is the right decision. Remain supports continue to stay hopeful and present. With the leaving date looming, time will only tell if a second referendum is going to take effect.
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