The company I was working for had to pay for a lawyer to go through so much red tape when they sponsored me to get permanent residency. So, I knew the British and all European people had a great gift from the EU called "freedom of movement."
Born in Middlesbrough in 1971 and grew up in a Eurosceptic family. I followed their belief for years until one day around 2000 when I was chatting about things with some people I knew...
We left a red rose and EU flag on Jeremy Corbyn's front gate as a gentle (and unsuccessful) reminder that many existing and potential Labour supporters were Remainers.
We came with our Fake TV and were stopped by thousands of people for a photo...
I chose to fight to protect millions, especially immigrants who had made a life here, for they were being heavily scapegoated.
The Police, who were always excellent with us, let us through & we marched, led by Steve Bray, to Downing Street playing our instruments & singing our songs.
To my utter surprise I found myself shouting at the top of my voice ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, look there is John Redwood, the man who told his clients not to invest in the UK. He is, he is an utter bastard’.
I used to attend with groups from Stratford4Europe, WarwickDistrict4Europe and Banbury4Europe, each time I and the others would drag more along.
I felt I had no voice politically and was totally unrepresented. Getting into political activism and protesting regularly outside Parliament is the only thing I can thank my ex-MP, Baroness Hoey for.
It was having Steve and the group from SODEM there day after day as they were the country’s Remain beacon who we deeply respected and coalesced around.