The anti-Brexit campaign now needs to reach beyond the 'usual suspects' to Leave voters and the Labour left.

Saturday’s march for a ‘People’s Vote’ on the Brexit deal exceeded all expectations. Materials promoting it in advance put expected turnout at over 100,000. In the end, around 700,000 marched through central London.

The organisers say the numbers make it the second-biggest demonstration this century, behind the one million estimated to have protested against the Iraq War in 2003.

LFF spoke to demonstrators throughout the day – here’s what we took away. 

1. This wasn’t about a People’s Vote

I spoke to nearly a dozen protesters on the day. Surprisingly, nearly all of them said they didn’t think a ‘People’s Vote’ was now possible – either there wasn’t enough time, or ‘it’s not going to happen’ regardless.

Instead, this was a show of force for pro-Europeans. One marcher, Will, told me he was there to ‘change the terms of the Brexit debate’. Another, Paolo, said it was because the EU was ‘part of [his] identity’. Most others I spoke to were there to show that public opinion is shifting – and to make Theresa May listen to their concerns amid hard-right lobbying.

2. This could be a turning point

Despite that, the sheer scale of the march suggests this is a movement which has galvanised a broad swathe of people. It feels the Brexit debate has moved on: from what was previously a conversation about hard vs soft Brexit – to now being about hard Brexit vs stopping Brexit altogether.

Labour’s ‘tests’ on what circumstances would mean they’d vote for Theresa May’s Brexit deal no longer seem pertinent (the party are likely to vote down her deal regardless).

The real question is ‘what’s next’ if May’s deal is rejected. That puts the arguments of the People’s Vote campaign at the foreground.

3. “Where’s Jeremy Corbyn?”

There was radio silence from the Labour frontbench regarding Saturday’s march. This is tactically wise within the confines of Labour’s current position. Of course Jeremy was not going to back the demonstration – moving straight to a People’s Vote is contrary to Labour’s policy. And endorsing it risks alienating large sections of the Labour vote.

The current fudge is proving a tactical necessity. As Best for Britain chief Eloise Todd told me last week, ‘the job of any opposition is to want to have an election’ over another referendum. That makes it totally understandable that frontbenchers were tight-lipped on the day of the demo.

4. Where were the anti-Brexit Corbynistas?

The pertinent question for the left isn’t ‘where was Corbyn’ – but why there were no Corbyn supporters speaking on the day.

There were plenty of placards from Another Europe is Possible – the left-wing campaign against Brexit. Yet the main stage was fairly devoid of ‘true’ left-wingers other than Caroline Lucas. While Sadiq Khan is respected among progressives, the London Mayor’s past anti-Corbyn statements means he will fail to sway much of the party’s grassroots.

One senior anti-Brexit Corbyn supporter told me it was a ‘grey area’ as to whether Corbynistas were invited to speak. Whatever the case, if the People’s Vote want to sway the leadership, they’ll have to sway the unions and party grassroots. That means ramping up the profile of anti-Brexit socialists.

While there were plenty of popular celebrities featured at the demo – from Delia Smith to Gary Lineker – the prominence of figures like Chuka Umunna (who recently disgruntled Corbyn-supporters by calling Labour ‘institutionally racist’), as well as New Labour dons like Alistair Campbell, might not be doing the movement favours.

Please STOP putting Alastair Campbell up as a spokesperson for the People’s Vote march. I could not support the campaign more but his voice on this is incongruous and I can’t work out why anyone thinks his appearing on the TV is a good idea.
Send Femi instead, thx.

— Sian Berry (@sianberry) October 21, 2018

5. Beyond the bubble

I also asked marchers if they knew anyone who had voted leave who had now changed their minds. The answer was almost universally a long pause, followed by ‘I know of people who have’.

The Remain campaign – and its arguments – appear to be locked within a certain 2016 time-warp: similar figures repeating similar arguments to a similar group of people. That is not to say the arguments are wrong – they just won’t convince current Leavers.

The response I got to this (from two marchers I spoke to) was that then-16 and 17 year olds were now of voting age, and ‘older voters are dying off’. This is the same argument that persuaded the US and the world that Donald Trump could not possibly win. It’s not demographics, stupid – it’s politics.

One marcher told me people voted to leave out of ‘frustration’ and disinformation (‘so much rubbish’). That may be so – but that frustration and alienation with politics has not gone away. Indeed, it may only increase if people feel ‘betrayed’ or that an elite are trying to override democracy.

Nor have the rules of campaigns been updated to avert the risk of more (not less) disinformation and foreign influence taking place next time. As one marcher told me, ‘if the vote happened again, it [the result] would be the same’.

Saturday’s march was impressive and has galvanised the anti-Brexit cause. Now the focus must be on honing the arguments – and getting the right messengers – to ensure the movement is not just a liberal love-in.

It is time to move on from the arguments of 2016. It is not enough to say ‘voters were lied to’ or ‘older voters are dying off’. We have to win the argument on how people feel about Europe. That will take a lot more work.

Josiah Mortimer is Editor of Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter.

[Ed: An earlier version of this piece suggested there were few working-class or formerly-Leave voices given prominence on the day. We’re happy to note former Leave voter Will Dry was among those leading the march, while NUS’ president Shakira Martin and others from working-class backgrounds spoke on the platform].  

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