‘30p Lee is ignoring that there were 30 events all around the country and the Liverpool march was just one regional event.'

On Saturday March 23, Day For Rejoin celebrations took place in cities and towns across the UK. Events were also put on in EU countries including Germany and Spain, to highlight the reality of Brexit while spreading the rejoin message.

The fun and inclusive activities ranged from European quizzes and European-flavoured dances in the streets, to guided walks passing landmarks that play homage to Britain’s ties with Europe.

In Liverpool, a friendly, welcoming, and well-attended Rejoin march made its way through the city, followed by a number of rousing speeches, where speakers pointed to the negative impact of Brexit and argued the case for rejoining.

Following the national day of action, Brexiteers came out in force, posting deriding comments about the events online.

Lee Anderson didn’t waste any time in joining the condescension. The former deputy chair of the Conservative party who recently defected to Reform UK after he was suspended as a Tory MP for refusing to apologise for claims that Islamists had ‘control’ of London Mayor Sadiq Khan, posted a video of the march in Liverpool.

“Mass Rejoin Demo. Another mass anti Brexit demo which stretches nearly the full width of the pavement. No arrests were made,” he mocked.

Predictably, Richard Tice, leader of Reform UK, who has described Anderson as ‘our champion of the Red Wall,’ reposted the Ashfield MP’s tweet. ‘EU rejoiners summon huge support for mega demo….’ he wrote.

But the deliberately provocative posts were ripped apart for their inaccuracy.

National Rejoin March (NRM), the grassroots action group which campaigns to put rejoining the EU on the agenda, and which organised the Day For Rejoin, pointed out how events were happening around the country, and the Liverpool march was regional and was not a mass demonstration.

‘30p Lee is ignoring that there were 30 events all around the country and the Liverpool march was just one regional event,’ wrote NRM.

They added how the march in Liverpool was organised by a normal working class girl who is just 22 years old and is ‘fighting for her future back that bigots like 30p stole from her.’

The campaigners also pointed to a demonstration led by Laurence Fox that was held outside Downing Street on the same weekend as Day for Rejoin. The actor turned political activist and right-wing commentator, who was sacked by GB News for misogynistic comments, called for Nike to ‘leave our flag alone, during what even the Daily Mail described as a ‘small Downing Street protest.’ The calls were in reference to the sports brand being under fire for changing the colour of the St. George’s flag on the England football team’s shirts. Fox was mocked himself when it became clear he was making the anti-Nike comments whilst wearing a pair of Nike trainers.

To prove their point on ‘numbers,’ NRM posted a picture of the National Rejoin March in London in September, which attracted tens of thousands of people, alongside an image of this weekend’s ‘anti-Nike’ demonstration led by the well-known actor Laurence Fox.

Polls in recent months have shown that a majority of people now think Brexit was now a mistake. In November, a YouGov poll showed that the majority of Britons support rejoining the EU single market, even if that meant the resumption of the free movement of people, a policy which led to millions of families and workers moving to Britain during the country’s membership.

In light of the surging support for undoing the damage of Brexit, NRM wrote:

“Don’t be gaslit people. As polls show, #RejoinEU is the majority.”

Others shared their thoughts about Lee Anderson’s comments about this weekend’s Day For Rejoin.

“Unlike your mate Loser Fox who managed to muster 11 old age pensioners and a few racists on Whitehall,” wrote one X user in response to the Ashfield MP’s post.

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward  

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