The north faces a stark reality with this damaging, needless Brexit. It is why we will march for a Final Say

When the cost of trains to the capital goes through the roof and hotel rooms can barely be found. When you see coaches of people cheer and salute as they pass each other on the M6 or the A1. When you hear trumpets and trombones and singing outside stations, it is normally because people from the north are attending another final.

Except this weekend, Wembley will be silent.

It is a final not for a cup, but for the Final Say on Brexit. And the sound will be the pounding of hundreds of thousands of feet marching together past a packed Westminster. The chants of north with south and east and west calling for a People’s Vote.

And this really matters to the north. Here’s why.

First, we know our region will be hit first and worst by no deal or by Boris Johnson’s latest proposal.

We are no different to the rest of the country in that most in the north share the same Yellowhammer concerns about food and medicine shortages, peace on the island of Ireland, and the disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable people in society.

But there are parts of our region which are so heavily reliant on manufacturing and exporting to the EU that entire communities will be decimated.

In the northeast, for example, there will be an 11 per cent drop in the value of goods we produce if there is no deal and a 6 per cent drop with Johnson’s new proposal. This will devastate communities.

Make no mistake, Johnson’s proposal is far worse than Theresa May’s deal, and that was bad enough. Our country will have to borrow more and so will go further into debt for our kids to pay. Wages are estimated to go down by more than 6 per cent, costing every single person thousands. And manufacturing will be hit due to increased trading barriers.

Business is already bracing itself. In fact, the latest figures for the northwest showed its economy shrinking and the northeast chamber of commerce reported the lowest volume of export orders since 2009 – during the very depths of the recession that followed the financial crash.

Companies crucial to our region like Nissan, which employs 6,000 people on Wearside in the northeast, with thousands of thousands in the supply chain, have said their entire business model would be “in jeopardy”. Vauxhall, in the northwest, has said its plant is conditional on our relationship with the European Union.

Thousands of jobs lost. Thousands of families struggling to keep a roof over their head, food on the table, and their kids warm over Christmas.

Which is the second reason why so many will be travelling to London. Because Johnson does not care about the north. He only cares about the votes in the north.

You will see him in hospitals, or in front of police, or making more false promises about investment. You will hear the Old Etonian dismiss the warnings of business by saying: “I don’t think the consequences of a no deal will be anything like as bad as you say”, because he will be OK. People like him always are.

You will not see him at a foodbank. You will not see him giving those on their knees due to austerity a helping hand.

Instead, like Nigel Farage, he will just talk about us as a heaving mass of angry working-class people who all voted Leave with nothing in between.

Which is the third reason why the north is going to London: to speak for ourselves.

Because despite the northern narrative pushed for general election purposes, we are not all angry Leavers. In fact, a recent YouGov poll showed 57 per cent of people in the north would choose Remain over no deal or even Remain over a deal with the backstop removed akin to Johnson’s proposal. And the vast majority of people who voted Leave were middle class (59 per cent) not working class (41 per cent).

It is why I worked with Peter Kyle to ensure that whatever deal is passed goes back to the people. To ensure the north’s true voice is heard on Brexit in a referendum separate from the politics of a general election which sees us lumped together as one entity.

And it is why we march together in London.

Not to see a cup raised aloft this time, but to see the hopes raised of all those whose jobs are at risk and who care about the future of our country. Not to see one side win over another but to ensure all sides are heard on the defining issue of our generation for one last time. That is our cup final on 19 October, to demand we are given a Final Say.

Phil Wilson is Labour MP for Sedgefield