Yes, I wish it was over too – but now is the time to make your voice heard to defy a damaging Brexit

On Saturday we will see another march, another protest. It’s easy to feel fatigue in this current political climate. Marches and protests, outrages and scandals seem to be ten a penny and society seems more polarised than ever.

In a 24/7 landscape of rolling news, social media, phone alerts and notifications it’s all too easy to feel numbed by all the shouting. I’m supposed to be a People’s Vote ambassador but even my tolerance is being tested. It has even, I hate to admit, brought on a definite sense of “bored by Brexit” in me.

It is so tempting and in many ways so peaceful to just switch off. All too often the choicest response is to simply say “ignorance is bliss” or “I won’t make a difference” or “whatever will be will be”. Don’t fall for it.

Boris Johnson’s tactic appears to have been to strong-arm or frustrate people into supporting a dodgy deal, or worse, the cliff-edge catastrophe of no deal at all. But frustration and fatigue is no reason to accept an inferior position to what we already have.

No one went to the ballot box to vote for something worse than the status quo. No deal wasn’t on the ballot paper, nor was whatever our government has cobbled together this week. We were told this would be a managed transition, not a sudden stop. Now we risk crashing out with no continuity.

Trusting Boris Johnson is also a huge issue – the only PM to have ever been found to have illegally prorogued parliament by lying to the Queen. I’m sure our venerable monarch was not amused.

We’ve all been on a learning curve since 2016, when the result was close rather than decisive. And it’s fair to remind Brexiteers that many of them said a narrow victory should prompt a second ballot, so let’s have it.

The 2016 result has poisoned our politics, split parties and divided cabinets. It has frayed and factionalised families, and part of that has come as a direct result of the vagueness of the original poll. People were effectively asked how they felt about the EU at that moment, and room was left for multiple interpretations and a divisive aftermath.

The actual offer to the people that we have arrived at – a proposed free trade agreement that the government’s own analysis shows would be economically damaging – is different from Theresa May’s softer Brexit but certainly not what anyone was promised in 2016.

It will need to be signed off by the EU and parliament, which is far from a given, but the simple logic must be that it also needs the consent of the electorate before we take a decision of such magnitude, a decision which would mean painfully extricating ourselves from mutual ties of peace, prosperity and security that have been established over many years.

In my opinion the best deal on offer is the one we already have as full EU members. And you know what? I could be wrong. No one knows enough about what lies five, 10, 20 years into the future. But I personally will campaign vigorously to remain because I sincerely believe in it. But Leavers who think that remaining would be a mistake should have their say too. It’s imperative.

A Final Say referendum on the Brexit that actually lies in front of us will give everyone a tangible and decisive vote. I and most people, Brexiteers and Remainers alike, want the same thing – the best for the UK. People’s opinions on how to achieve it will always differ and similarly they may change over time.

Since 2016, many new facts and figures have come to light, people on both sides of the fence will have changed their minds. Democracy should allow for this, and it usually does. In the UK we have general elections roughly every four or five years because we know circumstances, situations and therefore opinions change over time.

Leaving Europe in many ways is a much bigger decision than the outcome of voting in a general election. We won’t be able to reverse this after four or five years, it could well be permanent and so should be treated with the gravitas it deserves.

If there’s ever been one time in our political lives when apathy, fatigue and ignorance has no place, it is now. We can still get a better outcome. Everyone must decide our future with ALL the information on the table. Is the will of the people as voiced in 2016 still the will of the people in 2019?

And to the argument that it would be undemocratic to hold another vote, the answer is simple. We will now be voting on a different question, and after nearly four years of debate, real-life effects and a fair sight of the reality that lies ahead of us. It would be entirely undemocratic to refuse people the chance to use that information at the ballot box.

Saturday is a big day. Parliament is due to hold a rare weekend sitting. And it may well be considering the question of a Final Say referendum at the very moment that the people are crowding at its gates. If you can march, then march. And make sure you bring others with you. If you can’t march, offer your support and write to your MP.

Ignorance is not bliss, one by one we can make a difference and whatever will be, will be whatever we make it. If 30 million of us raise our voices on 19 October, then we will be heard.