21 days left to halt Brexit

Slough for Europe campaigning update

Newsletter 07. 8th March 2019

It's been a fairly quiet week in parliament, but this is likely to be the lull before the storm starts in earnest next week..
Read on for more details of the People's Vote March later this month and how you can help out in Slough to fight Brexit.

Upcoming events

People's Vote March 23rd March 2019

This march is going to be huge and it has to be huge. We want it to be bigger than the October 2018 one and top bring London to a standstill on the day. Tell everyone you know about it, because the media coverage has been fairly patchy so far.

The politicians are still trying to ignore the ever growing voice of those who want to Remain in the EU.
It's time to demand that they #PutItToThePeople
The last March in London last October was big. This one needs to be even bigger though. If you went last time, then try and invite along at least two people who didn't make it.
If you didn't go last time, then mark 23rd March in your calendar now.

Sign up for the event here, so you will automatically see any updates.
Tell people you are going on the March on whatever social media you use.
Please tell the event organisers you are attending too, so that they get provisional ideas of numbers:
https://www.peoples-vote.uk/march

With Britain set to leave the EU by default before the end of March, this could be our last chance to let the government know that they are not doing this in our name.

Travel plans
Provisional travel plans are as follows:
Meeting points:
- Slough Railway Station (probably platform 3). Plus code: 9C3XGC65+RF

At the latest, get the 10:40 train, to get into Paddington for 10:58.
- Second meeting point is from 11:00 near the Australian War Memorial, where people can sort themselves out, assemble flags and placards etc. Plus Code: GR2X+VF
Maidenhead for EU will also be there - so look out for the Maidenhead or Slough flags.
- Final meeting point after the March for anyone who wants to catch up with other local people: 14:00 to 16:00 near the steps in Trafalgar Square. Plus code: GV5C+8P

If you haven't come across plus codes before, you can type them directly into google and they will pinpoint a fairly specific area whether or not it has a postcode.

Please bear in mind that at the last march, because of the huge number of people there, most people found that their phones worked only intermittently, if at all. So, make sure you know what you are doing and have checked maps etc before you arrive in at the start of the March.

Updates
We will keep the most up to date event details on our Facebook event page, in case of any last minute changes to our plans.

Help someone else to get to the March if you can't make it
Campaigners in Surrey have set up a great initiative to help organise funding to get people to the March. If you would like to donate to it to help pay the travel expenses of those who could otherwise not afford to attend, or if you yourself or friends would be unable to attend on cost grounds, visit their website at getmetothemarch.co.uk.

Campaigning in Slough, Saturday 16th March 2019

For six consecutive weeks now, we've run our street stall in Slough High Street.
Unfortunately, this Saturday we will not be there due to a shortage of volunteers meaning that there would only be one person doing the stall alone, which is unsafe.

We will be running a stall again next week though however (16th March). It is really important that we publicise the march as much as possible, because many people are still unaware that it is happening. If you think you may be able to help, please let us know beforehand so that we can get an idea of numbers.

We need to keep up the pressure and at the same time expand our group, so that we have a larger support base that we can rely on in the town, without having to draw people away from their own groups so often. If you want to help, this is the ideal way to get started and only takes a couple of hours of your time.
With the upcoming March, the focus is shifting to publicising it now - more leaflet distribution and not such a focus on the Brexitometer.

We've altered the separate event reminders emails, so they are only sent to people who said that they might volunteer. Please message us if you would like to be added to that list and aren't already on it.

Other campaigning locally this weekend

It's another busy weekend of campaigning locally. All on Saturday 9th unless otherwise noted):

Maidenhead 1000-1200 Outside Coffee Republic
Reading 1000-1600
High Wycombe 1400-1600
Henley 1000-1200
Marlow 1000-1200
Gerrards Cross 1000-1200

Further afield

Aylesbury 1100-1300 Outside Metro Bank
Thame 1400-1600
Wallingford 1400-1600
Didcot 1000-1200
Wantage 1000-1200
Bicester 1000-1200

The best place to check for local events and exact locations / contact details is on the People's Vote website.

Weekly protests outside Parliament with SODEM

Steve Bray and his team have been outside Parliament every week it has been sitting for well over a year now.
Tuersday 12 March is currently predicted to be the next big day for voting in the House of Commons, so it would be good to have a sizeable local contingent there.
Wednesday March 13th and Thursday March 14th are also predicted to be important dates for key votes.
They are normally there 11am-6pm Monday to Thursday, although there may well be some more extended sessions coming up again soon to align with critical votes in the House of Commons.
Find out more details about their campaign here.
It's always a friendly atmosphere there (amongst the remain protesters) and you can just turn up and leave at whatever times are convenient.

Other upcoming events

12/03/19 - Lord Adonis is speaking in Basingstoke. Organised by North Hampshire for Europe. More info here.
18/03/19-11/03/19 - Maidenhead for EU will be leafleting commuters outside Maidenhead station from 7am each morning, advertising the People's Vote March.
19/03/19 - Berkshire for Europe social event - drinks at the Three Guineas in Reading 1900-2300. A chance to talk to some of the campaigners when they aren't busy campaigning.
23/03/19 - There's a big big march - see the start of the newsletter for details.
29/03/19 - There are already a few events planned for this evening, including a demonstration for Liberty in Europe. It is likely that a lot more will be added nearer the time once what is happening becomes clearer.
30/03/19 - Protest - don't let the far right hijack the Yellow Vests movement. Demonstration in London. Again I think a lot will change as we get nearer to this date. More details here.

Recent activities

2nd March street stall in Slough

Saturday 2nd March was the first day of our slimmed down easier to transport street stall in Slough High Street. Although the weather was cold and not so many people wanted to stop as the week before, we had some very positive feedback from the ones who did.
The focus was on publicising the upcoming march and we handed out a lot of leaflets. Some people also took small batches away with them for other friends that they felt might be interested.
Thank you again to everyone who gave up their afternoon to support this event.

I have forwarded photos of all the past Brexitometers to our MP (Tan Dhesi). If you haven't already done so, please email or write to him to encourage him to give his clear backing for a People's Vote.

Other news

National issues

The week of voting is imminent

Next week will be a critical week for votes in the House of Commons. It seems likely at present, that there will be critical votes on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Whether the last two days of votes happen will be somewhat dependent on whether or not the earlier votes are won or lost.
Tuesday is the latest version of the meaningful vote on May's deal - she has pulled it a lot of times in the past, but there is no time to do so again and if she did, this would lead to an outcry from MPs.
If May's deal does not pass, then Wednesday is the day on which MPs vote on whether the UK should leave the EU without a deal.
Finally, on Thursday, if May's deal has not passed and we have not decided to leave with no-deal, then there is a vote on extending article 50.

Support for People's Vote growing amongst northern Labour voters

Despite the assertions of some MPs, polling suggests that support for a People's Vote is relatively high and continuing to grow among north of England Labour voters. More on this here.

Meeting with the EU

Berkshire for Europe joined a delegation from UK pro-EU grassroots groups to the European Parliament this week to discuss their concerns about Brexit with European policy-makers including MEPs Danuta Huebner, Philippe Lamberts, Seb Dance & Derek Vaughan.

How Brexit has hit the value of UK firms

For the average firm, Brexit is associated with a value loss of 16.4 per cent against a hypothetical no-Brexit scenario. Read more here.

New site for emailing and sending postcards to your MP

You can send your MP a hard copy postcard, for free, asking them to vote down the May’s brexit deal at hey-mp.uk

General campaigning update

Our website

Please do visit our website at sloughforeurope.eu and tell anyone elsee that you think may be interested in our campaign.

Social media

We are on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Facebook public page: /sloughforeurope
Twitter: @sloughforeu
Instagram: @sloughforeu
Also, please join our closed facebook group, where we can talk through plans for new events etc in more detail without the whole internet seeing what we are saying. Join up here: /groups/sloughforeurope.group/
Remember, the more you share, like, and retweet stuff on social media, the more people will see it. If you know of any friends locally who might be interested in finding out more about the campaign, tell them too follow us too.

What Can I do to help

Time is running out and wee still need to build more momentum in Parliament to delay Brexit and call for a People's Vote. Every little thing you do can help this.

Email your MP - this is still one of the most important things which everyone should be doing on a regular basis. If they don't get post about something, they will not think it is an important issue for their constituents. The best site to use for this is Write This Wrong. Slough's MP Tan Dhesi is against the Government's proposals, but is following Labour Party Policy at present and has yet to come out directly in support of a People's Vote.
Write to your MP - Actual physical letters are harder to ignore than emails. It doesn't have to be a long message - you can send a simple postcard. Remember to include your address (if you are a constituent) and to let them know if you voted for them at the last General Election (and whether you still would, based on their stance on Brexit).
Join a local group. Even if you aren't that local to Slough, there are other local groups that you can join. If there really isn't one already, then you could always set one up...
Become more active in this campaign. We always need more volunteers, to run street stalls, deliver leaflets etc. New faces are always welcomed.
Tell a friend. If you know anyone who is even only tentatively interested in stopping Brexit, point them in our direction - either they can start by following us on Social Media, or there is a signup form on the website at sloughforeurope.eu/signup to add their details to this mailing list.

Berkshire for Europe

We work closely with our neighbouring groups. Berkshire for Europe does a great job of coordinating activities among us. There are local groups in Windsor, Maidenhead, Reading, Wokingham, Bracknell and West Berks.
Go to the Berkshire for Europe website to sign up for their newsletter and to find out contact details of the other groups in the county.