North East to march against Hard Brexit this weekend

A cross-party campaign in opposition to Hard Brexit will hold a march and rally in the North East this weekend.
The event will be held on Saturday.The event will be held on Saturday.
The event will be held on Saturday.

The North East for Europe group is expecting a large crowd to attend the event in Newcastle city centre this Saturday, with pro-Europe campaigners and supporters travelling from around the country to take part.

The group particularly wishes to show solidarity with fellow EU citizens living in the North East, who are understandably concerned about their right to live and work here, and encourages EU citizens in the North East to join the event.

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The march will assemble at Northumberland Road by Newcastle City Pool, at noon, before proceeding to a rally at the Monument which will feature high profile speakers, such as philosopher and author Professor AC Grayling, founder of Scientists for EU Dr Mike Galsworthy, Professor Emmy van Deurzen of the New Europeans movement, Julia Charlton, the chair of University of Northumbria UCU, former NE Lib Dem MEP Fiona Hall, former NE Labour MEP and Minister for Europe Joyce Quin, and current Yorkshire Labour MEP Richard Corbett.

Professor Grayling said: “I greatly look forward to speaking at the North East for Europe campaign’s event in Newcastle this weekend – it will be a good warm-up ahead of the national march in London later this month.

"The growing number of people who have grave reservations about Brexit should be heard.

"If the choice is between a poor Brexit deal and no deal, the national interest requires decision-makers to rethink a deeply damaging course of action.

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"This is very much not over yet – there is still time for Theresa May to pull the plug on Brexit instead of pulling the plug on the UK.”

Carlos Conde Solares, spokesman for the North East for Europe campaign, said: "We hope that many concerned citizens will attend our event.

"We are directly appealing to the middle ground, particularly those who voted leave and now aren’t sure they’ve done the right thing.

"We want to avoid a disastrous scenario for the North East leading to the economic shock of Hard Brexit and the break up of the UK.

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"It’s OK for people to change their minds, but it is important that they don’t leave it too late.

“North East for Europe is continuing to lobby our region's members of the House of Lords to urge them to hold the Government to account on Article 50.

"We want them to seek safeguards to protect freedom of movement, the rights of EU citizens, and to ensure regional impact assessments to protect the economic interests of the North East."

A post-march talk by Professor Grayling will take place at 4pm at the Literary & Philosophical Society, on Westgate Road. Tickets are available from http://bit.ly/NE4EUgrayling