The People’s Vote march in London

Saturday 1136  20th October 2018

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Warning : strong language on some of the images.

On Saturday 1136  I attended, along with almost ¾ million other people, the march in London for a People’s Vote on the expected Brexit Deal or No Deal . Wasn’t that a TV programme? Deal or No Deal that is.

I might sound like I am making light of it but, of course, it is far from a laughing matter.  The United Kingdom has never been more divided and it feels more and more as if there are going to be no winners whatever the outcome.

The causes of what brought us to a referendum in the first place are manifold but it seems certain that a huge swathe of the population felt as though they had been “left behind” by neoliberalism and globalisation, with many living in areas where industry has died and unemployment high.

The rich have continued to get richer, despite the global crash of 10 years ago, whilst the poor have got poorer; fertile conditions indeed for unrest .

I just want to start by saying that the referendum was never legally binding and the Government should never have said that it would be – Thanks David Cameron – the Prime Minister who walked away from the mess he had got us into.  The proof is here :-

These people below were asking the right question. Where is David Cameron now ?  I can answer that he is writing his memoirs in a £25,000 Designer shed!  As a multi-millionaire he will be entirely untouched by Brexit.

I could write a thesis on the subject  of Brexit but you’ll be pleased to hear I’m not going to. Instead  I am going to post some photos of placards and people going to, or at ,the march and also the  names of some of the Key people who pushed through Brexit , so you can see why so many of us don’t trust them or the decision.

These 2 photos were taken at King’s Cross station.

 

First ,here’s a link to the top 19 Brexiteer promises.  https://infacts.org/cut-keep-list-top-19-brexiteer-promises/  and a link to the biggest donors http://uk.businessinsider.com/twenty-one-biggest-donors-to-the-leave-brexit-campaign-2017-5/#4-lord-edmiston-1000000-18  relevance to this list later.

Also a list of https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/09/brexiters-put-money-offshore-tax-haven

Some of the people who pushed for and I believe utterly misled the people to further careers or feather their own nests.

Boris Johnson, arch two-faced, would-by PM, and hugely influential  Brexiteer ,who said in 2013 he would vote to remain in the EU; who wrote a column for the Telegraph just before he decided to back Leave, 4 months before the referendum  which said of the EU: “This is a market on our doorstep, ready for further exploitation by British firms. The membership fee seems rather small for all that access. Why are we so determined to turn our back on it?” The column was never published!

https://eu-rope.ideasoneurope.eu/2018/02/14/boris-johnson-remember-what-he-said/

It’s important to note that Johnson is a favourite with the Conservative party membership and the result ,which showed that almost 2/3rds of Conservatives voted to Leave,  might confirm his influence.

Farage – a public school educated , millionaire who pretends to be a working class hero,  who failed to get elected to the House of Commons on 7 occasions but, hugely ironically, has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 1999. It’s an institution he is vehemently against but he is happy to take a salary from them. He attended only 40.7% of votes between July 2014 and May 2016 , the 2^nd worst after a man who has been ill ! Farage represented UKIP , for my overseas readers this is the United Kingdom Independence Party whose sole purpose was to get the UK out of the EU, Ironically it has had lots of MEPs but not MP’s. It’s considered by many to be a racist organisation – more here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Independence_Party_representation_and_election_results

and about Nigel Farage here  Farage racist at school and here – anti-migrant poster 

David Davies – Until recently Brexit secretary who, during the MP’s expenses scandal of 2009, was found to have very excessive claims – you can read about this here – David Davis expenses  Greedy?

In 2011 Davies co-authored a book with 2 other Conservative MP’s entitled The Future of Conservatism: Values Revisited – which called for a 10 per cent cut in the NHS workforce, at the time amounting to 30,800 jobs, in its chapter on the NHS.   A reminder that the leave campaign used the slogan below on a red bus implying that the NHS would get £350 million a week if we left the EU.  More Hypocrisy?

More reading on the red bus here – red bus 

Other millionaires and Billionaires who funded and supported the Leave campaign :–

Arron Banks, who bankrolled UKIP and Farage,  plenty of controversy here  – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arron_Banks

Richard Tice – privately educated millionaire

James Dyson – billionaire inventor who moved all his production from Uk to the far East and is going to be building electric cars in Singapore! – patriotic huh !

Leading Tory Brexiteer and Former Vote Leave Chairman Lord Lawson – he lives in France and has applied for permanent residency there.  Hypocrisy?

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s wealthiest man with an estimated fortune of 21 billion, and a key Leave backer, has decided to leave the UK and live in Monaco where  residents don’t pay tax.  Sir Jim is founder and CEO of the chemicals giant Ineos.  Last year documents released by Friends of the Earth revealed Ineos had lobbied the government to roll back environmental regulations if the UK were to leave the EU. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/brexit-ineos-climate-change-laws-lobbying-exploiting-uk-eu-withdrawal-foi-documents-a7665136.html   More self interest?

I could write about MPs Michael Gove, Dominic Raab, John Redwood and Jacob Rees Mogg too but, forgive me,  I am tired of even thinking about them all now !

Uk’s right Wing Press also played a key role in driving Brexit – In particular the Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Times, The Telegraph and the Sun. Most of these papers are owned by either Murdoch, The Barclay Brothers or Lord Rothermere all non-domiciled for Tax purposes, so pay no tax or virtually no tax, in the UK. More self interest?

This is really just a flavour and there are many, many more but I did say this wasn’t going to be a thesis so I’ll stop !

I’m sure many could point to Remain backers who are just as self serving, i.e the aforementioned David Cameron oh and Theresa May.

Back to my original donor list and I’ll just pop this in here –  from 1^st January 2019 The Anti Tax Avoidance Directive comes into operation across Europe. Do you think this had anything to do with millionaires and Billionaires supporting Brexit?  https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/business/company-tax/anti-tax-avoidance-package/anti-tax-avoidance-directive_en

More here – https://medium.com/the-jist/was-eu-tax-evasion-regulation-the-reason-for-the-brexit-referendum-980ba88a8077

A link to another list of all the promises and inducements the Vote Leave Campaign made. Keep a copy and see for yourself how much of it, if any, come true . Click Here – The List 

Add in that the Leave Campaign broke Electoral Law  and is it any wonder so many people marched for another vote?  I don’t think so.  Do you?

For balance I want to end by linking to a very well thought out series of tweets by Paul Mason which I recommend to you.

Here – Paul Mason on Twitter  You don’t have to be on twitter to read it.

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Sorry that this did end up a bit like a thesis and I’m pretty sure there will be many a thesis written on it over the next 50 years!

Oh and here are a couple of aerial photos ( not mine) of the crowds

Your thoughts are very welcome as ever.

Saturday Girl signing off.

You can find my photography blog Photomania here 

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