When did you first attend the SODEM protest outside Parliament and why did you come? 

5 February 2018, and I came down because I couldn’t not. I also wanted to shake Steve Bray’s hand and tell him how much it meant to so many to see him taking a stand, and to stand with him with my brand-new EU flag. Barnier came to have lunch with T. May that day and 15 minutes into my first SODEM stand I was whisked away to stand outside No 10 with my flag being spat at and also applauded!

Roughly how old are you?

Late forties

How frequently did you come and when was the last time you attended?

I went down 15 times from Liverpool, and twice on organised coaches for marches with Liverpool for Europe, so roughly once a month? The last time I went down on my own was the 28 October 2019, due to reduced income. 

How far from Westminster do you live and what was your travelling time?

I live outside Liverpool so total travel time to Lime Street station and then to Euston on the express train would be about three hours each way, plus the tube from Euston to Embankment/Westminster. 

What’s your favourite memory?

So many! Maybe when Steve managed to put a B2B sticker on Mogg? Or when we were chanting, ‘We demand a People’s Vote’ and I turned around to see Anna Soubry standing behind me filming us? But most of all the people I met, the stories we exchanged, the camaraderie and hope and unity I felt every time I was there. 

Tell me your story

I am Norwegian, married to a Brit. We met in Portugal 20 years ago and would have gone back there now but for his 88-year-old mother, who he has to stay here to look after. Without the EU freedom of movement, we have to make a choice – I have to accept living here with the Tories and possibly a No Deal Brexit, but few or no rights, even with Permanent Residency (I refuse to apply for SS), or I can take my Schengen passport and go to Portugal or Spain and set up a second home and wait for my husband to maybe be able to join me in however many years. I have paid taxes to the UK for years without getting a vote, now Brexit is tearing this country and my little family apart, and I hate it with a passion!

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