The time has come to march again to demand a Final Say on Brexit

If we show politicians that support for a Final Say is strong, they will eventually have to accept this truth: only a second referendum can give the Brexit process legitimacy

Yesterday, The Independent announced a second march for a Final Say on Brexit.

Working in partnership with the People’s Vote campaign, we will hit the streets of London on Saturday 23 March to deliver a message loud and clear: the people of Britain must be allowed to sign off on any Brexit deal, or to reject the whole process.

You can sign up for the march by visiting the People’s Vote website here.

And to stay up to date with what’s going on with the march and the essential Brexit news (don’t worry, we’ll spare you from every twist and turn), do sign up to our new Brexit in Brief email – you can do so by going to the ‘Account details’ tab when logged in to your account at www.independent.co.uk.

This march, called Put It To The People, is vital for Britain and our democracy. We are weeks away from the Brexit deadline, and the deadlock in parliament is no one’s idea of a sound democratic process. The dangerous brinkmanship may even get us a catastrophic no deal at all. And none of the compromise deals being discussed measure up to the promises made back in 2016.

It may feel as if our Final Say campaign has been on the back burner for a little while. The fact is, having delivered more than a million petition signatures to Downing Street, and marched with an estimated 700,000 through London last year, it was right to give parliament and Theresa May the chance to make progress. But look at where we are now.

That’s why we’re stepping up the Final Say campaign once again.

To those who say we don’t respect the result of the last referendum, that’s simply untrue. After Britain voted to leave, politicians had two years to show progress before The Independent launched Final Say. We waited to see if the result of the first referendum could really be delivered along the lines that the campaign groups set out.

But last July, with negotiations over a Brexit deal showing little sign of progress, and peacetime Britain realising the need to stockpile medicines, it was clear that no one was going to get a Brexit that lived up to the promises of 2016 – and so Final Say was launched.

We all know more now than we did in 2016 about EU withdrawal. If voters were to back it again, knowing far more about the realities of the Brexit we face, then we will respect that as the final say in the matter. But there needs to be a proper democratic process.

Instead, the prime minister is running down the clock. There is so much heroic talk of holding strong in the negotiations and waiting for the EU to back down; in reality the impact of this brinkmanship is to pressure MPs in our own parliament to back a deal they know does not deliver a future that anyone voted for.

No, given the importance of the decision for us all, it must be the people who decide.

There is still time to make it happen. If we show politicians that support for a Final Say is still strong, they will have to listen – and accept, at the last moment, what they have known all along: that only a second referendum can give this process legitimacy.

And so we will march again.

On 23 March, assembling from midday on Park Lane, we will walk to Parliament Square to show our passion for getting this issue right – and giving the people their say.

We hope you, our loyal readers, will join us. Your support for our campaign and for The Independent has been amazing. Now we must keep going to get the result we need – a Final Say on Brexit.

Yours,

Christian Broughton

Editor