Harpenden Remainers cover 20ft banner in anti-Brexit messages for MP

Harpenden residents writing notes to MP Bim Afolami on the Harpenden for Europe banner, Picture: HfE (Image: Archant)

Campaign group Harpenden For Europe (HfE) invited passersby to pen a note to Hitchin and Harpenden MP Bim Afolami on a 20ft banner last Saturday.

Responses on the People’s Vote banner came from residents aged eight to 89.

Eight-year-old Raffi said: “Hi Bim, I would really like to stay in the EU.”

Maddie, 17, wrote: “I’m 17! It’s my future! Revoke Article 50!”

The message from Page to MP Bim Afolami on the Harpenden for Europe banner, Picture: HfE (Image: Archant)

A 10-year-old called Page added: “Please leave Europe’s doors open for me.”

HfE say they will deliver the banner to Mr Afolami in person in the coming weeks.

This comes during uncertainty over the future of Brexit - Prime Minster Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement has been rejected multiple times by Parliament and she is due to ask the European Union for a second Article 50 extension.

As it currently stands, the UK is scheduled to exit the single market on Friday, April 12.

The message from Maddie to MP Bim Afolami on the Harpenden for Europe banner, Picture: HfE (Image: Archant)

During all this, HfE has been fiercely campaigning for a People’s Vote, and 1,000 people from local Remainer groups joined the largest ever Brexit march through London on March 23.

A petition asking for Article 50 to be revoked garnered more than 16,600 signatures in Harpenden alone, adding to the six million supporters from across the country.

HfE treasurer John Galvin said: “We have been campaigning in Harpenden for a year now and we have never seen scenes like this before.

“We were amazed how many local residents came to us to sign the banner as the prospects of a disastrous Brexit continues.

The message from Raffi to MP Bim Afolami on the Harpenden for Europe banner, Picture: HfE (Image: Archant)

“They wanted to tell their MP Bim Afolami in person how much they want a People’s Vote. We will be proud to deliver this banner and their messages to Mr Afolami on their behalf.

“We hope he realises that now, more than ever, his constituents demand a final say on Brexit.”

The same morning HfE gauged local opinion on a ‘Brexitometer’.

Out of 335 participants, 87 per cent wanted to remain in the EU, either through a referendum or by revoking Article 50. The Withdrawal Agreement was supported by just one per cent of respondents.