If we get a referendum, we need to win it. To do that, we need to make the case for being in the EU, not just the case for a People’s Vote.
That’s why InFacts is backing a massive march in London on July 20. The date has been chosen for maximum impact on the new prime minister, almost certainly Boris Johnson, just before he enters Downing Street.
This will be a march with a difference. Unlike the three People’s Vote marches, it will boldly make the case for being in the EU. It will be led by the grassroots. And it will be making the case for change not for the status quo.
MPs can probably stop Johnson crashing out of the EU without a deal, despite yesterday’s setback. Most of them know it’s madness. But if there’s a referendum, we will have to win the argument with the people. And unless we start making the case now why we are better off in the EU, we could lose it.
After all, Johnson – who came way ahead of his rivals in the first round of the Tory leadership race today – is a formidable campaigner. And Nigel Farage is back with a vengeance. At the moment, hardly anybody is arguing that we need to stay in the EU. If we don’t, Johnson and Farage will run away with the ball. They won’t even have to defend their position that we should quit the EU. They’ll just scream “betrayal”.
July 20th
Park Lane, London
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If we get a referendum, we must not repeat the failed 2016 campaign. We can’t re-run Project Fear – though there are certainly a lot of dangers in Brexit.
We also need a message of hope. But this shouldn’t be about how everything will be just fine if we stop Brexit, because it won’t. A lot of people are rightly unhappy about the status quo.
We need a message about change. That’s why the march is called the March for Change.
We need to convince people that so long as we put the bawling Brexit baby to bed, we can fix the country’s real problems. Our politicians then won’t be obsessing about the aftermath of Brexit for the next decade. And we’ll have more money too. Money that can be spent on the big problems that people really care about: the NHS, social care, knife crime, child poverty. The list is endless.
We also have to convince people that we can help fix the world’s problems if we are one of the biggest players in the world’s most powerful club rather than if we go solo and end up being bullied. We can help stop the planet frying if we work with our EU friends.
This is a patriotic argument that can fire up people’s emotions. This is the answer to the Brexiters who will make us impotent, despite their rhetoric about taking back control.
This is why the march’s slogan is: Reunite the People. Reunite with Europe. March with us on July 20.
Note from the editor: InFacts is a founding member of the People’s Vote campaign. We have supported all the People’s Vote marches and will support the next one in October. But the priority now is to show the new prime minister, the country and the world that we want to stop the Brexit chaos. That’s why we need a show of force on July 20. Please support this initiative by backing the crowdfunder.