Ahead of a crucial Brexit bill vote, thousands of protesters took to the streets of London to call for a U-turn on the decision to leave the EU.
The People’s March For Europe saw an estimated 50,000 people walk from London’s Hyde Park to Parliament Square, where a number of speakers included Liberal Democrat MP Ed Davey and Labour MEP Mary Honeyball.
Speaking at Saturday’s event, Liberal Democrat MP Vince Cable slammed the Conservative government for its incompetence.
“We’ve got to absolutely stop the Brexit which this rather incompetent, dysfunctional, disunited government are trying to force upon us. Europe matters to this country and we’ve got to keep it,” Cable said.
He described the government’s process of leaving the EU as a “train crash” and said Brexit was already having an adverse impact on the nation.
“We can already begin to see what will happen with this train crash in slow motion that is already beginning to evolve. We see first of all a government that is disunited, badly organised, [and] is leaving perilously late important negotiations.”
“We’re beginning to see, for example, large numbers of European nationals – some of the best people we have – feeling insecure, unwanted, drifting away from the country.
“We’re seeing the living standards are already beginning to be squeezed, the devaluation of the currency.”
On Monday, MPs will vote on the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill. The Labour party is expected to oppose the legislation that would put in motion the UK’s pull back from the EU.
