Brexiteers ask public for ‘treasures’ to put in Museum of Brexit

Organisers behind the Museum of Brexit want the public to donate money and mementos to create a permanent exhibition devoted to the UK’s exit from the EU.

Brexiteers said they are aiming aims to raise £650,000 to set up the museum after winning approval for fundraising plans from the Charity Commission.

Organisers also want “treasures” from both Leave and Remain campaigners so the history of the long-running political battle can be told “fairly and in a balanced way”.

Trustee Alex Deane, who was executive director of the Grassroots Out campaign, said: “There is a tremendous story behind this that deserves to be preserved. Unless we act fast, much of the material from the referendum will be lost.”

He added: “Gaps will then be filled with misperceptions, fake news and myth. Our objective is to plug that gap at the time when it is easiest, right now, while memories are fresh, attics are still filled with treasures, and before items and stories get lost.”

The public have been invited to offer campaign literature, placards, badges, posters and rosettes – as well as personal correspondence, diaries and photographs from the battle over Brexit – both before and after the momentous 2016 vote.

The trustees are hoping to raise an initial £400,000 to buy a property for the museum, with The Telegraph reporting that they are looking at Leave-voting locations in the Midlands, including Dudley and Boston.

The team behind the plan, which includes Thomas Borwick, Vote Leave’s former chief technology officer and Gawain Towler, the Brexit Party’s former communications director, hope to raise another £250,000 to set up the museum.

The anti-Brexit campaigner and commentator Alex Andreou questioned whether the museum set up by Brexiteers could ever tell the story in a “balanced” way.

“A Brexit Museum can never be neutral, because the notion behind it is not neutral. It’s based on the rotten idea that the breakdown of a fifty-year alliance that has brought unprecedented peace, stability and prosperity, is something to celebrate.”

Britain’s small businesses have made clear the history of Brexit is far from complete, as they continue to struggle with the paperwork and costs brought in by Boris Johnson’s trade deal.

More than a fifth of small British exporters have temporarily halted sales to the EU, a survey by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) showed on Monday.

“Those that do business internationally are being hit with some incredibly demanding, unfamiliar paperwork,” said the FSB’s chairman Mike Cherry. “What we hoped would prove to be teething problems are in danger of becoming permanent, systemic ones.”