Brexit campaign group ready for socially-distanced celebration

GRASSROOTS campaign group Warrington4Brexit will tonight be celebrating as the UK finally leaves the Brexit transition period.
The group has followed closely the passage of Boris Johnson’s UK/EU trade deal through both Houses of Parliament and toasted the moment at 12.25 am when Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle finally announced to MPs that the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020 had been granted royal assent by the Queen.
A Warrington4Brexit spokesperson said: “Obviously Covid-19 restrictions mean that we can’t hold a party as we did a year ago when the UK officially left the EU, but we will certainly all raise a glass at exactly 11 pm tonight when the Act takes effect and the UK leaves the Brexit transition period. It’s been a rollercoaster ride since the Vote to Leave won the 2016 Referendum.
“As a nation we’ve had two General Elections –in 2017 and 2019 –  plus the European Parliament Election in spring 2019 and seen legal challenges in the Supreme Court, so we were relieved and satisfied last night to see the Bill which means the UK finally leaves EU jurisdiction with a deal become law.
“Our group came together in the winter two years ago when there seemed to be a real possibility that the 2016 referendum result would be overturned or just ignored. We have always been a genuinely cross-party action group, what unites us is the conviction that sovereignty –the freedom of the British people to make its own laws –should be returned to the UK through Brexit. Our aim was always to remind Westminster politicians of the democratic mandate given to them by northern towns such as ours to leave the EU.
“As Northerners we had to prove to the Westminster bubble that we knew and understood what we had voted for and were determined to hold the line to ensure that the 2016 Referendum result was honouredand the UK returned to being an independent, self-governing state.
”Warrington4Brexit held demonstrations not only in Warrington, but also in Wigan, Leigh and also at Westminster and on Whitehall. It received wide coverage in national newspapers and on television, as well as maintaining an influential social media profile throughout 2019 and 2020.”