Tom Slater Tom Slater

What Extinction Rebellion and the People’s Vote campaign have in common

Extinction Rebellion (XR) has announced it will finish its ‘Autumn Uprising’ earlier than planned in order to make way for the People’s Vote march on Saturday. The two groups have been in informal discussions for some time aimed at avoiding getting in one another’s way, according to a report in the Times. Even if the Metropolitan Police’s draconian city-wide ban on XR may have made such a deal unnecessary, it reminds us how much the groups have in common.

It’s not exactly a stretch to say these two predominantly bourgeois movements may have some crossover in support. Talking to the Times, People’s Vote comms chief Tom Baldwin said:

‘I don’t think they’ll want to disrupt us and a lot of them will want to join us on our march’.

Although XR says it is neutral on Brexit it is hard to believe many among its number are passionate Brexiteers, perhaps taking time off from bricklaying in Dagenham to glue themselves to Westminster Bridge.

But the kinship runs deeper.

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