LONDON (Dispatches) – Tens of thousands of protesters have marched through central London, waving EU flags and calling on the UK to rejoin the European Union.
Thousands of Britons who gathered from across the UK in a protest called the National Rejoin March, walked from Park Lane to Parliament Square in London, calling Brexit a failure.
Parliament Square Garden, the last stop on the march, was covered in blue European flags as supporters waved EU flags and carried placards, reading “Brexit was never going to work”, “For lower bills #rejoin the EU”, “We want our star back.”
Some other sings read, “cost of leaving crisis” and “Brexit got the UK done.”
“We should negotiate a deal, get the Customs Union back, the single market, and progress from there” in order to re-join the EU, Steve Bray, well-known as “stop Brexit man” who has been protesting against Brexit since 2019, said in a speech.
“In long term, we’re going to suffer because we’re not able to sell and buy from Europe, which is our biggest market,” said Joshua Allotey one of the protesters from Winchester, who works for a local authority.
Oliver Jackson, a 26-year-old warehouse worker from Dorset, said, “Brexit has been the slow death that has been bleeding the UK dry for years.”
“The best way to get the UK back on track is to rejoin, “at the very least, the single market and then the EU,” he added.
The march took place while the ruling Conservative party is looking for a new leader after the departure of Liz Truss, Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister.
Truss became Britain’s fourth prime minister in six years after being elected to lead the Conservative Party by its members, not the broader electorate, and with support from only around a third of the party’s lawmakers.
In this short period, Truss catapulted the already ailing UK economy into free fall by presenting a plan to cut taxes for the wealthiest and borrow from the banks.
“I wanted to act but to help people with their energy bills to deal with the issue of high taxes, but we went too far and too fast,” she stated. “I do want to accept responsibility and say sorry for the mistakes that have been made.”
The next prime minister must secure 100 nominations from lawmakers by Monday to run in a contest to choose the leader of the ruling Conservative Party.
So, no matter who replaces Truss, the next prime minister will face the dilemma of food prices rising by 14,6% in 12 months.
Energy prices have driven inflation in the 19 countries of the eurozone to a record, making it harder for people to buy what they need.
Across Europe, soaring inflation is behind a wave of protests and strikes that underscores growing discontent with the spiraling cost of living and threatens to unleash political turmoil.