Campaigners from across Ealing travelled to London on Saturday 23rd March, to join a mass demonstration to demand a People’s Vote on Brexit.
More than a million people from across the UK took part in the People’s Vote “Put It To The People” march in central London.
People made their way to London from every corner of the country including Shetland and the Highlands of Scotland.
More than 200 coaches brought marchers into the capital. More than 500 people also travelled from the West County on a specially chartered train.
Organisers of the march were been taken aback by the numbers of people who signed up for the demonstration from Leave-voting areas. Coaches brought protestors from places including Chesterfield, Doncaster, Lincoln, Peterborough, Stoke and Sunderland, which all voted to leave the EU by heavy margins in 2016.
One man, Edmund Sides, walked his way the march from Swansea, and a team of cyclists rode their bikes all the way to London from Sheffield.
People travelling from Penzance in Cornwall faced one of the earliest starts, leaving at 3.50am. But campaigners travelling from the Highlands and Islands faced the longest journey – starting out from Inverness at 8pm the previous day, on Friday 22nd.
Some of the coaches being used to get demonstrators to the capital were sponsored by well-known local names, including: actor Jason Issacs Liverpool); broadcaster Joan Bakewell (Manchester) advertising executive and film producer Trevor Beattie (Birmingham) comedian and actor Steve Coogan (Manchester) businessman and chair of Stoke City FC Peter Coates (Stoke) Joe Hemani, Chairman of tech firm Westcoast PLC and Vice President of Chelsea FC (various locations) actor Natascha McElhone (Brighton) TV Cook and majority shareholder of Norwich City Football Club Delia Smith (Norwich), broadcaster and historian Dan Snow and actor Sir Patrick Stewart (Huddersfield).
Many Britons living abroad also travelled home to take part in the march, from Australia, the US, Malaysia, Africa and hundreds from across the EU.
The government is still desperately trying to secure the backing of Parliament for its heavily criticised Brexit plan and the mass demonstration in London took place just days before the UK is scheduled to leave to the European Union.
The Put It To The People march started on Park Lane and made its way to Parliament Square for a mass rally and speeches.
Young and old walked side by side, through the centre of London, including several generations of the same family, World War Two veterans in their 90s, families pushing buggies, grandparents, teenagers, students, office workers, celebrities and Members of Parliament.
Curtis Parfitt-Ford from the Ealing European Movement said:
“The Put it to the People March was a fantastic success, with more than a million ordinary British people turning out to protest in the centre of London.
“Brexit is already causing deep damage to Britain, threatening local jobs, businesses, the NHS and living standards in Ealing. EU nationals – a large number of whom have contributed to our community for decades – face uncertain futures, our hospitals are under threat, and local businesses (including Heathrow) stand to lose out.
“The discredited Brexit deal, Theresa May is still trying to force on Parliament, bears little resemblance to what was promised in the 2016 referendum.
“The only way to solve this political crisis is put whatever deal is decided by Parliament back to the British people and let them decide.”
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Notes to Editors
For further information or interviews, please contact Curtis Parfitt-Ford, communications officer at the Ealing European Movement, on [email protected]. Photos from the march are available on request.