Former Labour leader Lord Kinnock has branded Brexit an “unmitigated, unprecedented, continuing disaster” as he joined demonstrators marking the 10th anniversary of the UK’s exit vote with a march calling to rejoin the European Union.
Police estimated that around 1,500 people set off from central London’s Temple station on Saturday to Parliament Square in Whitehall behind a banner declaring “We Want Our Star Back”. The National Rejoin March (NRM) was filled with people carrying EU flags and wearing blue and yellow hats and T-shirts that said “Citizen of Europe” and “Re:Union”.
Lord Kinnock’s Remarks
Lord Kinnock spoke to the crowd at a rally in Parliament Square, telling them: “Brexit has been an unmitigated, unprecedented, continuing disaster. The economic damage is huge. Stupendous.” He added that the public knows this because they can see it in their pockets, in lost opportunities, political damage and being left in an “insecurity of not being part of a collective sovereign series of democracies that are comparable with ours, sharing our values”.
He said: “We used to be, not very long ago, a significant participant in deciding the condition and the development of our continent. Now, we are an applicant for involvement in the security arrangements – what a change in status, importance, and effectiveness.” All of this has happened against a political and economic backdrop of US president Donald Trump’s tariffs, Russia’s war against Ukraine and all democracies, China’s advance and a Middle East that is still in turmoil.
To cheers, he added: “We are stuck in Brexit. We are trapped, as outsiders, from the rest of our continent. If anything else was ever doing this much political and economic harm to our beloved country, the demand to end it would be unstoppable.”
Personal Impacts
Newlywed Madeleina Kay, 32, is trying to move from Sheffield to be with her husband Johann in Germany. She said: “I think Brexit was a travesty for the United Kingdom and it has also had a personal impact on me, a huge amount. I want to see a better future for everyone in the UK, but especially those young people who did not get a say in the referendum. It is really important that we make our cause visible. The more that we campaign, the closer we will get to the ultimate goal which is being a member of the EU again.”
She said the ramifications of Brexit are now being felt in terms of the economy, trade, small businesses, to rights and freedoms, and “even if it’s just trying to go on holiday and standing in that goddamn queue at the airport”.
Scientific Concerns
Professor Arttu Rajantie, a Finnish theoretical physicist who lives in Reading, Berkshire, and works in London, stood holding a banner which said “Scientists for EU”. He said Brexit had “a big effect” on scientific research and saw a loss of access to European funding. Professor Rajantie added there has been a loss of freedom of movement that is “really hurting our recruitment and building links with new partners in Europe”.
He said: “We can’t recruit young European researchers in the same way as we could because they have got 27 countries where they can go without any barriers whereas to come to Britain, they have to get a visa. There is high cost and high bureaucracy. It is very complicated and so they just choose to go elsewhere.”
Organiser’s View
NRM organiser Clare Hall said: “I would just like to see full rejoin – I don’t feel like we have got nothing to lose.”
The UK voted to leave the European Union in a referendum in June 2016, called by then-prime minister David Cameron.
