Hundreds of people attended a People’s Vote Let Us Be Heard rally in The Meadows yesterday. Labour MPs Jess Phillips and Ian Murray, and SNP MP Joanna Cherry were joined by a stellar line-up of comedians from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
As well as the MPs, speakers included top comics Andrew Maxwell, Grace Campbell and Fred MacAulay as well as the renowned ‘Brexit Graffiti Granny’, Hazel Jones.
At the outdoor rally in The Meadows, the speakers made clear their opposition to the democratic outrage of Boris Johnson’s government inflicting a disastrous No Deal Brexit on Britain without the people having the final say.
The People’s Vote campaign is organising a series of rallies across the UK, culminating in another huge march through central London on October 19.
Jess Phillips MP said: “Wherever I go there seems to be a People’s Vote rally – the people here in Scotland have been so unbelievably welcoming. I think the greatest lie Boris Johnson has told, and there’s quite a hit parade, is that on the 31st October, if we leave, this will be done.
“But if we leave on October 31st with a No Deal Brexit, that isn’t the end. That isn’t the end of it being every headline, every Government document, everything I will work on for the next ten years. It is a fundamental lie, that leaving with No Deal on 31st October will do anything other than make Boris Johnson look a bit hard. He is a man-child.
“I am sick to death of rich posh boys who travel in gold-plated elevators telling me I’m a traitor or that I don’t speak for the working class. They wouldn’t send their kids to the schools I send my kids to. It is not a treachery to care about the people where I live. If it costs my job because I represent a leave voting constituency, then some things are more important. I trust the people in this country and we should let them decide.”
Joanna Cherry, MP for Edinburgh South West, said: “Today I give you my word that I and other SNP politicians will continue to work cross party to try and thwart Boris Johnson’s plans. We will do so in the courts where I am part of an action to stop Boris Johnson proguing parliament. We will also do so in Parliament.
“This rally is an important opportunity for people from across Scotland to make their voices heard alongside friends from across the nations of these islands. A People’s Vote is the only fair and democratic solution. If politicians are unable to find a way through this gridlock it is the people who must have the final say.”
Fred MacAulay, comedian, said: “I am not a politician, I am an honest Scot. I have one thing in common with Boris Johnson – I don’t have a clue what’s going on.
“We’ve all got something to say about the utter shambles we’re in now – so it’s a pleasure to be here.”
Ian Murray, MP for Edinburgh South, said: “I just came back from the Teapot Trust who work with terminally sick kids – and what’s the best Boris Johnson can say to them? That they might just have enough medicines to get by.
“The promises they made cannot be kept, and reality has kicked in.”
‘Brexit Graffiti Granny’, Hazel Jones, said: “I was brassed off with lie after lie after lie. Where I live, there are lots of walls. And when I pass a wall with nothing on it, I decorate it – ‘Brexit is based on lies.’”
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Brexit is based on a vote. A deal was offered but rejected by elected politicians. If we leave on 31st because no other deal is available then ‘no deal’ is the deal.