Politics

‘Bollocks to Brexit’ campaigners on whistlestop tour to Dublin

Activists ‘giving voice to a more creative, colourful and passionate campaign’

Anti-Brexit campaigners Madeleina Kay and Drew Galdron, a Boris Johnson impersonator who goes by the name FauxBoJo, in Dublin on Monday. Photograph: Simon Foy
Anti-Brexit campaigners Madeleina Kay and Drew Galdron, a Boris Johnson impersonator who goes by the name FauxBoJo, in Dublin on Monday. Photograph: Simon Foy
Simon Foy
Mon Dec 17 2018 - 14:04

Anti-Brexit campaigners seeking a second referendum on EU membership stopped off in Dublin on Monday as part of their tour of the UK and other European countries.

The “Bollocks to Brexit” campaign is a grassroots movement encouraging UK citizens to write to their local MP and ask them to force another vote.

The campaign's yellow bus stopped outside the Guinness Storehouse, the British embassy and at Merrion Square before heading for Belfast where it will take part in an anti-Brexit rally on Monday afternoon.

On the way, campaigners said, the bus would also stop at the border to highlight its key place in Brexit negotiations.

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"The reason why we wanted to come to Ireland is that we don't think enough importance is being given to the issue of the Irish Border and it is the EU's fundamental bottom line that there can't be a hard border in Ireland," said campaign spokeswoman Madeleina Kay.

“There are various people in our government pushing for a Brexit that is going to increase the chances of a hard border that will damage the Irish economy and we want to get the message out there that that is not acceptable and that we are fighting and opposing it.”

The "Bollocks to Brexit" campaign began after the June 2016 referendum by distributing stickers throughout the UK. It has since developed into a bus tour around 50 towns and cities across the UK and several EU countries, including Belgium and Ireland, which ends in Westminster on December 20th.

It is financed through online crowdfunding and says it has raised about £20,000 in recent months.

Ms Kay said they are “giving voice to a more creative, colourful and passionate campaign because we believe that the current narrative that is dominating politics [IN THE UK]is boring, stale and not engaging people”.

British prime minister Theresa May is expected to tell MPs at Westminster that holding a second EU referendum would "break faith with the British people".

This is despite growing calls for a second referendum amid signs that there is no majority among MPs in the House of Commons for either Mrs May’s deal or leaving the EU without a deal.