Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

What I learned at the People’s Vote march | 22 October 2018

Two beliefs obsess the Remain cause. First, that voters were lied to during the referendum campaign. (Questionable). Second, that the negotiations are being botched. (Indisputable). But while Remainers believe that their opponents are fibbers, they can’t see that they too are being misled. At the People’s Vote rally last Saturday, I found general acceptance of these four myths.

1. Brexit is a ‘far-right’ policy.
2. Europe will be closed to Britons after we leave.
3. The EU is run by saints who negotiate in good faith.
4. A second vote will heal the divisions caused by Brexit.


The rally was vast and good-tempered. Many demonstrators had come to be photographed rather than to protest. An Elvis-impersonator rode a yellow tricycle with a registration plate, ‘EUELVIS.’ A bald gent of about 50 who looked like a maths professor held up a home-made sign. ‘Terrible decision. Appallingly executed. I demand a final say.’ I could hear his querulous headmasterly tone as he inked the words onto his placard.

I asked several protestors what question should be posed in the second referendum. Many said they didn’t know. Some had difficulty understanding what I was asking. One chap proposed a three-part question. ‘No deal. May’s deal. Or Remain.’ A deaf old boy with a sign that read ‘RIP Brexit’ gave me the pithiest answer. ‘Now you’ve had time to think about it – Leave or Remain?’ No one I met was bothered about democratic legitimacy. A re-run would mean ‘more democracy’, I was told. The Remain side is a magnet for all kinds of fretful types with unspecified fears. A pensioner held up a placard foretelling war after Brexit. ‘War against whom?’ I asked. ‘I don’t know,’ she shrugged. ‘They’re always having wars.’

Many of these fears arise from ignorance.

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