Five years after Brexit, the pill has still not passed for some English people… And the return of Labor to power encourages those nostalgic for a European Great Britain to make their voices heard.
By mid-afternoon, a sea of Europhiles dressed in the blue and yellow colors of the EU filled Parliament Square to the sound of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”, considered the European anthem, after having parade from Hyde Park, central London. On the square where the interventions at the platform were linked, many carried signs “I want to regain my freedom of movement”, or “Brexit is a monumental disaster”.
Others had a sticker on their t-shirts saying “Where did the money go?” “, in reference to the misleading promise made by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson (2019-2022), who insisted that the United Kingdom would keep “350 million pounds” per week to finance its public services instead of giving them away to the EU.
“Brexit was a trap set for the British people because of the lies that were told,” lamented Alec Taylor, 71, who works in the insurance sector and wore a blue beret sewn with gold stars. Mr. Taylor said that the United Kingdom will not rejoin the European Union any time soon, but that the Labor government elected in July will be “already more open, polite and friendly to Europe”, and will perhaps carry, In a few years, the idea of reintegration.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, elected last July, is expected in Brussels next week to meet the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, with the aim of relaunching relations between the United Kingdom and the EU. five years after Brexit.
The hope of one day returning to the European Union
The Labor leader, however, ruled out joining the European single market, the customs union or the treaty on the free movement of people. “There is perhaps a chance to reverse this error (of Brexit) with the new government,” declared Saskia Huc-Hepher, a 50-year-old academic who came to demonstrate, regretting that he was reluctant to create of a mobility system for young people.
This British woman who lives in London is married to a Frenchman. “Brexit is making our lives much more complicated […] We have two children, and it’s a little difficult to build a family identity” under these conditions, she stressed.
