Bollocks to Brexit Bus visits Ipswich

On December 20^th 2018, the Bollocks to Brexit bus visited Ipswich on the final day of its 20 day tour of the UK, Brussels and Ireland.  The bus was the brainchild of Madeleina Kay, a prominent anti-Brexit activist, with the tour made possible thanks to a £15,000 crowdfunder campaign.  The aim was travel around the country urging people to write to their MPs, asking them to vote down the government’s deal and supporting a People’s Vote with ‘Remain’ as an option.

The tour sparked controversy due to the bus name, so much so their official website carried a section explaining that thanks to a court ruling in 1977, the word ‘bollocks’, while considered vulgar, is not an obscene word in any legal sense.  Further, the word neatly sums up the feeling of a lot of young people towards Brexit.

The bus was parked outside Crown Pools just off Ipswich town centre for an hour, where a crowd of around seventy of us (and one Brexiter) gathered to welcome them.  Madeleina entertained us with the anti-Brexit songs she’s written and we had a rousing speech from Graham Hughes, one of the ‘three men in a pub’ vloggers.

With flags waving, we got lots of toots from passing cars (and a few rude gestures too!).  A few of us hopped on the bus to Colchester where we were greeted by a small crowd outside the townhall, including the leader of the town council. Huge thanks to Jo Hayes for arranging a parking spot there at the last minute.