October 20, 2018

700,000 People Marched in London to Protest Brexit

Protesters want a second chance to vote before the country leaves the EU.

Anti-Brexit campaigners central London after the People's Vote March for the Future.Press Association via AP

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The backlash to Brexit has been getting bigger and more organized.

Frustrated with political leaders’ handling of Brexit, British protesters gathered in droves on Saturday in their biggest rally yet. The People’s Vote, a collection of organizations that are against the Brexit decision, estimated that roughly 700,000 people marched in central London. Protesters called for a second referendum on the country’s exit from the European Union, which is scheduled to take place next March. 

In June 2016, Britain voted narrowly to leave the European Union, 52 to 48 percent. But now that the deadline is approaching, the negotiations to hammer out the specifics of the deal have hit a wall, namely over how to handle the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, an EU member. The stalemate has raised concern that there will be no deal when the deadline comes, which some fear would mean economic chaos. 

Since that 2016 vote, public opinion has shifted, with a majority of voters viewing the exit deal in a negative light. The marchers called for a second referendum on Brexit, arguing that public should get another chance to weigh in since the deal under negotiation is far messier and harmful than was first promised in the 2016 vote. Their online petition reads:

We have watched the chaos unfold in Cabinet and the turmoil in negotiations with dismay and foreboding. None of us voted for a bad deal or no deal that would wreck our economy. Nor do we accept that either is inevitable. If the Brexit deal is rejected by Parliament, then we, the people of Britain, should have the democratic right to determine our own future. That is why we are demanding a People’s Vote on the final Brexit deal.

The People’s Vote promises to deliver the petition to parliament once it hits 350,000 signatures. As of Saturday afternoon, it had 30,000 to go.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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