
Thousands have marched in central London to demand a second vote on Brexit two years to the day since the Leave campaign's victory in the 2016 referendum.

The anti-Brexit campaigners marched on Parliament on Saturday calling for a 'people's vote' on whether to approve the final deal Theresa May strikes with the EU.

The 'People's Vote' campaign, which includes several pro-EU groups, aims to ensure a public ballot 'so that we can decide if a decision that will affect our lives for generations makes the country better or worse off'.

Former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell and pro-Remain Tory MP Anna Soubry were present while actor Tony Robinson said he attended as he had a 'deep and abiding love for my country'.

In a speech on stage he went on: 'It's an old-fashioned and embarrassing word but I am a patriot.

'I am deeply offended that that word has been hijacked by a few reactionary colonialists over there [gesturing at Parliament] who peddle the fantasy of a UK that never existed except perhaps in the imaginations of their nannies and parlourmaids.'

Thousands of people march in central London on the second anniversary of the EU referendum to call for a public vote on the final terms of the deal

Saturday marks two years since the Leave campaign won the referendum with 52 per cent of the vote to Remain's 48 per cent.

Former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell said: 'I honestly do think this People's Vote campaign can be the way out for the politicians.

'Because the Cabinet can't decide, Parliament can't decide, the Labour Party's divided, the country's divided.

'This week's I think been a turning point in some ways. You had the Brexit dividend thing falling apart overnight, you've had Airbus and all these other companies coming out and saying 'we're making plans to move'.

'I think there's been a massive show of strength here (with the march).'

Boris Johnson has urged the Prime Minister to deliver a 'full British Brexit' as Cabinet colleagues warned the UK is able to walk away without a deal.

Matthew Mann, from south Gloucestershire, who moved to the Netherlands in 2016 for work, said: 'I'm here to show what a European looks like.'

The IT consultant said: 'I'm married to a French wife, I have two children who are dual national, and we live in Holland and are caught up in this administrative mess. I have lived and worked across Europe, it's home.'

Marchers raise a speech bubble to a statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square which says: 'We fought for Europe'

The marchers took to the streets of London to protest two years after the EU referendum

Gina Miller, who fought a legal case insisting that Parliament should vote on Article 50, takes part in the demonstration in central London two years since the referendum

Crowds gather on Pall Mall in London during the People's Vote march for a second EU vote

Pro-EU demonstrators march two years to the day since Leave's victory in the referendum

Actor Sir Tony Robinson attends the march demanding a vote on the final Brexit deal

Pro-EU demonstrators including Sir Tony Robinson march at the 'People's Vote' demonstration

Anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller, who took legal action to ensure Article 50 was not triggered without an Act of Parliament, spoke at the march.

She told crowds: 'It is simply dishonest for them in that House to say that they still believe the will of the people is the same as it was two years ago.

'Together we must stand up, demand our voices are heard, demand a people's vote.'

'It's time we took this back to the streets, the towns and the villages, the meadows and the squares of this country.

University academic Robert Brady, 62, who works in the computer science department, said: 'I have an Italian wife, I work in Cambridge, she works in Rome... I think we're technically what's called 'border workers'.'

He added he thought a second referendum was 'almost inevitable' as 'demographically, younger people are in favour, they want jobs, they don't want to sing Elgar'.

But shadow chancellor John McDonnell said he would prefer a general election to a second referendum in the event a Brexit deal cannot be agreed and approved before the UK leaves the European Union.

Addressing the annual conference of the grassroots Open Labour group in London, he said he wanted to avoid a Ukip resurgence or a repeat of xenophobia that marred the 2016 vote.

The MP, whose Hayes and Harlington constituency in West London is estimated to have voted Leave, said: 'I have said time and time again we don't want to rule out any form of democratic engagement.

'My view: I would rather have a general election. I don't want to repeat a referendum where there is a prospect of Ukip reviving again or having that xenophobia that affected my community, because I have got a Polish community in Hayes as well.'

Alastair Campbell, former aide to Tony Blair and leading opponent of Brexit, pictured at the march in central London today

Pro-Remain Conservative MP Anna Soubry was among those to join the People's March in central London today

Demonstrators gather prior to the start of the People's March demanding a vote on the final terms of the deal

Crowds gather on Pall Mall in London during the People's Vote march for a second EU vote

EU supporters participate in the 'People's Vote' march in central London on Saturday

A woman holds a pro-EU poster during the demonstration for a second vote on Brexit today

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said the UK was not 'bluffing' about being prepared to walk away from talks with Brussels, and Brexit Secretary David Davis said there is 'lots going on' to prepare in case negotiations collapse.

It came after Airbus said that if Britain were to leave the EU without a deal it would be forced to reconsider its long-term position and put UK jobs at risk.

Katherine Bennett, Airbus's senior vice president in the UK, said: 'We don't deal in idle threats. We seriously believe a no-deal Brexit would be catastrophic.'

BMW also warned that the political uncertainty was affecting its investment in Britain.

Katherine Bennett, Airbus's senior vice president in the UK, said: 'We don't deal in idle threats. We seriously believe a no-deal Brexit would be catastrophic.'

Mr Johnson said the public were keen to get on with breaking away from Brussels.

'Across the country I find people who - whatever they voted two years ago - just want us to get on and do it,' he said.

'They don't want a half-hearted Brexit. They don't want some sort of hopeless compromise, some perpetual pushme-pullyou arrangement in which we stay half-in and half-out in a political no man's land - with no more ministers round the table in Brussels and yet forced to obey EU laws.

EU supporters hold up a European flag and mock Donald Trump at the anti-Brexit march today

People march in central London calling for a vote on the final terms of the Brexit agreement

Crowds gather on Pall Mall in central London, two years to the day since the EU referendum

Two demonstrators wearing 'Veterans for Europe' T-shirts attend Saturday's pro-EU march

'They don't want some bog roll Brexit, soft, yielding and seemingly infinitely long.

'They want this Government to fulfil the mandate of the people and deliver a full British Brexit.'

Speaking at the march, MP for Tottenham David Lammy said the Foreign Secretary's remarks about a 'bog roll Brexit' are 'no longer humorous'.

He said: 'I think Boris Johnson forgets the dignity of his role and the importance of the livelihoods of ordinary British people.

'The day after that announcement from Airbus I thought his statement was unseemly and deeply inappropriate given his role as Foreign Secretary.'

On senior Cabinet members warning the UK was prepared to walk away from talks with Brussels, he said: 'This is megalomania.

'Walking away without a deal would be an absolute economic disaster for this country ... for God's sake get real. The British people deserve a lot more than a no deal Brexit.'

Former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg added: 'There's a growing momentum saying, after two years, that's long enough to have given the Brexiteers their chance, let's now makesure that the people have their say, that there's a people's vote when a final deal is struck.'

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable, Tory former minister Anna Soubry and Green co-leader Caroline Lucas were also at the march.

Sir Vince said Brexit is not a 'done deal' or inevitable and can be stopped.

'Parliament is fiddling at the margins while the country slowly burns,' he warned as he calls on the Government to vote on the deal, or no deal, with the option of staying in the EU.