Brexit has been branded an “unmitigated, unprecedented, continuing disaster” by former Labour leader Lord Kinnock.
He joined demonstrators who marked the 10th anniversary of the UK’s exit vote with a march calling to rejoin the bloc.
Police on the ground estimated that around 1,500 people set off from central London’s Temple station on Saturday to Parliament Square in Whitehall behind a banner which declared “We Want Our Star Back”.
The National Rejoin March (NRM) was filled with people carrying EU flags and wearing blue and yellow hats and T-shirts that said “Citizen of Europe” and “Re:Union”.
The UK voted to leave the European Union in a referendum in June 2016, called by then-prime minister David Cameron.
Lord Kinnock would not give his opinion on the Labour leadership as Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer faces pressure to set out plans to quit Downing Street over the weekend after Andy Burnham stormed to victory in the Makerfield by-election.
But he told the Press Association said: “What I hope is that as their (the Labour Party’s) efforts to re-establish a new relationship continues … I hope they will intensify and accelerate those so that by the time of the next election the Labour Party is in a position, together with other parties, to say ‘if you vote for us you are voting to make every effort to secure a return of normality in this continent of ours’.”
Earlier he spoke to the crowd at a rally in Parliament Square, telling them: “Brexit has been an unmitigated, unprecedented, continuing disaster. The economic damage is huge. Stupendous.”
The public knows this because they can see it in their pockets, in lost opportunities, political damage and being left in an “insecurity of not being part of a collective sovereign series of democracies that are comparable with ours, sharing our values”, he added.
Lord Kinnock said: “We used to be, not very long ago, a significant participant in deciding the condition and the development of our continent.
“Now, we are an applicant for involvement in the security arrangements – what a change in status, importance, and effectiveness.”
All of this has happened against a political and economic backdrop of US president Donald Trump’s tariffs, Russia’s war against Ukraine and all democracies, China’s advance and a Middle East that is still in turmoil.
To cheers, he added: “We are stuck in Brexit. We are trapped, as outsiders, from the rest of our continent.
“If anything else was ever doing this much political and economic harm to our beloved country, the demand to end it would be unstoppable.”
Newlywed Madeleina Kay, 32, is trying to move from Sheffield to be with her husband Johann in Germany.
She said: “I think Brexit was a travesty for the United Kingdom and it has also had a personal impact of me, a huge amount.
“I want to see a better future for everyone in the UK, but especially those young people who did not get a say in the referendum.
“It is really important that we make our cause visible.
“The more that we campaign, the closer we will get to the ultimate goal which is being a member of the EU again.”
She said the ramifications of Brexit are now being felt in terms of the economy, trade, small businesses, to rights and freedoms, and “even if it’s just trying to go on holiday and standing in that goddamn queue at the airport”.
The words “Brexit sucks” was drawn on a homemade banner in the shape of a lollipop while other placards read “I don’t want to take my country back, I want to take my country forward” and also “Re Join EU for trade and jobs”.
Another banner from Croydon for Europe said “The UK should be more like Crystal Palace, Champions of Europe”.
Professor Arttu Rajantie, a Finnish theoretical physicist who lives in Reading, Berkshire – and works in London, stood holding a banner which said “Scientists for EU”.
He said Brexit had “a big effect” on scientific research and saw a loss of access to European funding.
Professor Rajantie added there has been a loss of freedom of movement that is “really hurting our recruitment and building links with new partners in Europe”.
He said: “We can’t recruit young European researchers in the same way as we could because they have got 27 countries where they can go without any barriers whereas to come to Britain, they have to get a visa.
“There is high cost and high bureaucracy.
“It is very complicated and so they just choose to go elsewhere.”
NRM organiser Clare Hall said: “I would just like to see full rejoin – I don’t feel like we have got nothing to lose.”
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