Come to the “no to Boris, yes to Europe” demo tomorrow. Then channel your energy into making the positive case to be in the EU.
We are right to be angry that Boris Johnson is about to be forced upon us as prime minister. He will probably try to rip us out of the EU without a deal. He hasn’t even asked the voters whether they want this most destructive form of Brexit. He will only have been chosen by 160,000 Tory members, 0.25% of our 66 million people.
So get out tomorrow and demonstrate in central London. Assemble at noon in Park Lane. Then make your way to Parliament Square, where you’ll be able to listen to activists and campaigners, including me!
This is a grassroots demo. The people will be speaking truth to power. We won’t have any politicians on the stage.
We’re probably heading for either a new referendum or an election. Johnson has backed himself into a corner with his extreme rhetoric and so probably can’t get away with putting lipstick on Theresa May’s pig of a deal. Meanwhile, MPs will probably stop him crashing out of the EU without one.
So we are likely to be asked to decide one way or another whether we want a no-deal Brexit or no Brexit at all. To win that argument, we need both to say it’s mad to charge over the cliff into the abyss and that it’s good to stay in the EU.
For me, the core argument is that we will be better able to fix the country’s real problems – such as care for the elderly, lack of investment in swathes of the country and knife crime – if we stay in the EU. We will have more money. Our politicians also won’t be obsessed with bloody Brexit till the cows come home.
We’ll also be better able to fix problems further afield – such as the climate crisis – if we have a seat at Europe’s top table. We will have more power on the global stage. We won’t get bullied by Vladimir Putin and have to suck up to Donald Trump. If the whole world was like the EU, it would be far, far better. Countries work together and respect each other, rather than fight and bully each other.
So let’s put the bawling Brexit baby to bed – and take back our rightful place in Europe. See you tomorrow!
