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Brexit news latest: Pioneer of Britain in EU, 91, joined People's Vote march to call for second Brexit referendum

@penarthgecko/PA Wire
@penarthgecko/PA Wire

A 91-year-old man, who was a pioneer for Britain originally joining the EU, took part in the People’s Vote march in London to call for a second referendum.

Uwe Kitzinger, who was the first British economist of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, warned that the current direction of the country could lead to “international tensions which can so easily lead to war”.

Mr Kitzinger also worked alongside Winston Churchill’s son-in-law, Christopher Soames, from 1973 to 1975 when Lord Soames was the first British vice-president of the European Commission.

He travelled to London on Saturday from Oxford to join calls for a second Brexit referendum to be held along with hundreds of thousands of others.

Demonstrators with placards and EU and Union flags shut down much of central London on Saturday (AFP via Getty Images)
Demonstrators with placards and EU and Union flags shut down much of central London on Saturday (AFP via Getty Images)

He said: “I see Brexit as a blow against the cohesion of the world.

"I do not see how the question of sovereignty over the issue of Europe can be settled without the people of this country having a say, now that they are much better informed, and now that there is actually a proposal.

"We now see the beginnings of a transition to a destination, but it's very clear that the destination is meant to be one of national tribalism, and that is the beginning of the kind of international tensions which can so easily lead to war.

"It is the negation of all I stood for and all I worked for in my career, but that isn't the important thing.

"The important thing is what happens to my grandchildren, and their children."

The 91-year-old former president of the Oxford Union president was also critical or Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Mr Johnson last night sent a letter to the EU requesting an extension to the October 31 Brexit deadline, despite previously saying that the country would leave at the end of the month.

Mr Kitzinger added: "All the institutions that were set up at the end of the Second World War - the World Bank, the United Nations itself - all these are under attack from Mr [Vladimir] Putin, and from him through Mr [Donald] Trump, and our present so-called prime minister.

"I have had a lifelong conviction that it matters desperately, if we want to keep peace and attain a wider prosperity in the world, for nations to pull together, not to pull each other apart."

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