Green Party co-leaders reflect on third anniversary of Brexit referendum
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22 June 2019
With tomorrow marking the third anniversary of the Brexit referendum, the co-leaders of the Green Party have reflected on two key aspects of the last three years.
Sian Berry said: “Our politics has become entangled in what has been rightly described as Brexit chaos over the past three years.
“We could, and should, have been dealing with the fast-rising issues of poverty and homelessness, with the collapse of bus services and the causes of the filthy air we breathe, with the state of our nature-deprived countryside and the struggles of our small farmers to survive.
“Instead we have been bogged down in party infighting, in fact-free debates about non-existent Brexit options and arcane struggles over parliamentary procedures.”
Jonathan Bartley added: “I’m thinking particularly about our young people.
“It should be a basic aim of politics that young people shouldn’t have fewer freedoms and opportunities than their parents, but if we do Brexit, and lose the treasure of free movement, our young will see their choice circumscribed, their options narrowed.
“More than two million young people have become voters since the 2016 referendum. Well over another million are aged 16 and 17, seeing society wrestling with issues that will have a huge impact on their futures.
“That’s more than 3 million people who deserve a say on their own future through the democratic option of the People’s Vote.
“Parliament has shown itself to be unable to find a way forward. The answer is democracy, and giving those young people the option to have their say.”