People's Vote march: Stars help hire coaches to take thousands on Final Say rally

Celebrities including Sir Patrick Stewart and satirist Armando Iannucci have helped hire a fleet of 172 coaches to bring thousands of people to Westminster to protest for a final say on Brexit.

Huge numbers are expected on Saturday to march from Park Lane to Parliament where MPs will be sitting for the first Saturday since the Falklands War to decide the fate of Brexit.

The Final Say rally calls for a vote on any EU withdrawal deal.

Famous names who also include cook Delia Smith and actress Natascha McElhone have hired coaches to bring people from all over the UK to the march for the People’s Vote campaign.

Writing in today’s Standard, Sir Patrick said: “We are now reaching a crucial moment in the Brexit crisis. The Government has adopted the slogan ‘Get Brexit Done’ to try and browbeat an exhausted public into accepting whatever botched Brexit Boris Johnson presents to them but we know this slogan is a lie.

“If we allow Johnson and his cabal in Downing Street to drag us out of the EU this will be just the prelude to years of negotiations, years of rancour, years of not talking about any of the other important issues facing us.”

The Star Trek actor is paying for a coach from Huddersfield and will also speak at the rally alongside Great British Bake Off presenter Sandi Toksvig.

Harry Potter actor Jason Isaacs, who is paying for a coach from Liverpool, wrote on Twitter: “Turn up on Oct 19th to make the self-serving, lying, paralysed politicians let the British people decide our future. Yes, we voted before, but now we know what we’re voting for — no fairy stories or horror stories.”

The organisers are billing it as “one of the biggest protests” Britain will ever see, with sport and business heads also funding buses.

The march will take place nearly two weeks before the UK is due to leave the EU on October 31, and at the end of a crunch week for Brexit negotiations. Other marchers include 97-year-old Second World War veteran Brigadier Stephen Goodall from South Devon.

He said: “Nearly 80 years ago I fought to create peace, and on Saturday four generations of my family will march to keep that peace, to keep Europe together and to do the best thing for our country rather than what’s best for short-term politics.”