The new L4E committee is keen to initiate regular activity updates with our 26,000 L4E Greater London Community. Our new L4E Chair, Jo Pye, starts us off.

Calling all London4Europe Members and Supporters!

This is the first of what I hope will be regular updates on what London4Europe Supporters and Representatives are thinking, planning, doing and achieving on the pro-European fronts!

London’s place in pro-Europeanism

It is very hard to keep up with the myriad changes on all fronts which are swirling around our beleaguered nations. The only thing we are sure of is that we have got to do “something”. And a something that:

• builds back our morale
• re-energises our campaigning batteries
• rebuilds our friendships
• starts to mean something.

Most important of all is that all pro-Europeans make a noise and get seen. We have not gone away. We shall never go away until Brexit is reversed – however long it takes.

London is well-placed to become a beacon of pro-Europeanism. London voted to Remain. London houses Parliament.  It is home to the European Parliament’s UK representation. London is a natural focal point for national events.

Let’s understand our strengths

According to City A.M, 21 May 2022, London and the South-East now accounts for £4 in every £10 of the total UK economy.

London and The City generate the major proportion of the UK’s GDP (22%).

However, as these statistics show, our strength is currently declining following our withdrawal from the European Union.

Who is speaking up for London and the City?

This is the big question. It would appear that precious few “in the know“ are prepared to put their compromised/intimidated heads above the political parapet – not yet anyway. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has made his opinion clear that the UK should rejoin the EU single market. Nobody ever voted to leave it, of course!

Make lots of noise

In so many ways, we can make lots of noise! Whatever our political affiliations, we – Londoners - must start the clamour. The elections in May 2024 for London Mayor and the Greater London Assembly in May 2024 provide an opportunity for pro-Europeans to claim our new, knowledgeable, voices. Who knows, a clear pro-Rejoin candidate may well appear! They are appearing in local By-Elections. Win or lose, any pro-European candidates will add oxygen to the cause.

Let us unleash London4Europe’s pro-European potential!

Following our AGM on 25 May 2022, London4Europe elected a new Committee to spearhead London’s contribution to pro-Europeanism. The previous Committee built links with the 10 representatives of Greater London’s EM National Council, as well as with the Young European Movement.  As we leave lockdown behind, this wider reach offers L4E members and supporters plenty of opportunity to become knowledgeable and participate in renewed activity.

Under my tutelage, we want to build means of establishing two-way communication between our members and those of us who currently represent you (please see the list at the end of this newsletter). Our first step will be to update our Greater London Branch network. For example, if you were once part of a thriving campaigning group that has since gone into hibernation, please contact me with any details of surviving activities or your own personal wish to join a nearby group.

In parallel, we shall be updating our L4E website to provide timely information and a clear pathway to enable you to contact our Representatives. Without wider participation, our representation and our unified voices are limited. As the saying goes, “If we always do what we always did, we’ll always get what we always got.”

Sneak preview of events to look out for:

An impromptu social picnic (Let’s Rejoin in the Park) in a London Park on 21 August 2022 (information to follow)

The National Rejoin March on 10 September 2022. L4E Supporters can play a pivotal and enjoyable part in this. More details to follow.

This is our new representative era. Let us make the most of it, both for the cause we cherish and, not least, for our own sanity!

Jo Pye

Chair of London4Europe
[email protected]

Please use this email address to contact me directly. I shall endeavour to leave no email unanswered. Now there’s a challenge. I may not have all the answers, but I shall find out someone who can!

L4E Committee

• Peter Benson
• Leo Capella
• Nicola Claire (also NC Members’ Rep)
• Nicoletta Comi
• Andrew Conway
• Nicholas Heenan
• Nick Hopkinson (also NC Branches’ Rep)
• Amanda Jacobs (also NC Members’ Rep)
• Peter Jenkins
• Graham Lane
• Richard Newcombe
• Andy Pye
• Jo Pye
• Benjamin Wakeman

Our four Greater London Branches’ Representatives

• Barbara Callender
• Heather Glass
• Nick Hopkinson
• David Nickerson

Our six Greater London Members’ Representatives:

• Paul Bowers
• Nicola Claire
• Amanda Jacobs
• Lucy Marsden
• Sanjay Ravindran
• Samuel Willis