Sir Patrick Stewart Tells People’s Vote Demonstrators There Was “Nothing Democratic” About 2016 Brexit Referendum
"Patrick Stewart" by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Sir Patrick Stewart spent Saturday among protesters at the People’s Vote rally in London.
Thousands of demonstrators descended on Westminster to protest the government’s handling of Brexit, ahead of the October 31st deadline by which the UK must leave the EU. Metro.co.uk reported that Stewart, among other celebrities, was there to congratulate demonstrators on their efforts, and spoke to the crowd in Parliament Square. Not mincing words, Stewart claimed that there was “nothing democratic” about the 2016 referendum which kicked off Brexit, saying, “People weren’t just misled, they were lied to.” He went on to praise the protesters, saying, “You haven’t just filled a nice bar in north London, you have taken over an entire city. You haven’t just impacted the Brexit debate you have transformed British politics.”
Stewart wasn’t just an attendee at the rally; he also helped organize it. The Evening Standard reported earlier that he paid for a coach to bring protesters down from Huddersfield, his hometown. Star Trek: Discovery actor Jason Isaacs paid for a coach as well, from his hometown of Liverpool.
The UK government is locked in a bitter battle over the terms of their exit from the European Union. Originally, they were to have exited in March of 2019, two years after invoking Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union. However, since they are the first EU member to have ever attempted to withdraw from the Union, the way forward is not clear. The official exit deadline has been extended twice and now sits at the 31st of October of this year.
