Cambridge marks Brexit Day: Guildhall to be lit up and campaigners will drown their sorrows
The Guildhall in Cambridge will be lit up in yellow and blue tonight to mark the UK’s departure from the European Union.
From 11pm today (Friday January 31), the UK will officially have left the EU.
While Cambridge City Council marks the landmark occasion with a light display, members and supporters of the pro-EU campaign group Cambridge Stays will be drowning their sorrows from 6pm at Thirsty Cambridge on Chesterton Road.
Paul Browne, chair of Cambridge Stays, said: “Brexit is a severe blow to the economy and global influence of the UK, but it is the loss of EU citizenship and the rights and opportunities it brings is most painful for many of our members. Young people in the UK are being denied the opportunities that Freedom of Movement gave earlier generations, Freedom of Movement that they themselves overwhelmingly want, and the government has the nerve to boast about it.
“While the UK is officially leaving the EU at 11pm on Friday, we know that Brexit is far from done. In the months and years ahead we will join hundreds of local groups like ours across the UK to hold the Government to account, to keep the closest possible relationship with the UK, and to advocate the cause of European unity that is so important to us.
“Above all we will work with organisations like the three million and British in Europe to protect the rights of five million EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in other EU member states.
“As a consequence of a referendum in which the vast majority of them were denied a vote, our family, friends and colleagues from across Europe now have to apply for an inferior status than that they enjoyed by right.
“They have to do this despite promises made during the 2016 referendum campaign by those who now lead the government. The treatment of the five million by the UK government perfectly illustrates the moral black hole at the heart of Brexit.
“One day the UK will once more take its rightful place as a member of the European Union, and we will continue our campaign until that day arrives.”
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