ONE fifth of the Herefordshire contingent at last Saturday’s pro-EU rally in London came from Ledbury.

But numbers of campaigners from the county, at 250, were a drop in the ocean compared with the one million or more people estimated to have been involved.

Guy Wilkinson, chairman of the Herefordshire for Europe group, said that “something like 50 people from Ledbury" took part, with some catching a coach from Ledbury train station and others “choosing to make their own way to London, separately”.

Mr Wilkinson added: “Herefordshire for Europe represents the growing number of people who think that we made a mistake at the time of the referendum now nearly three years ago. Democracy never stands still and what was said then is not what the people are saying now with opinion polls now showing that 6 in 10 people believe that remaining in the EU is better for families, farmers and the nation as a whole.

“Democracy is never frozen in time. It means that the evidence is now clear that the majority of people are fed up with the mess of the past three years and now want to end it by putting it back to the people for their final decision.”

Mr Wilkinson said that 12,941 people from the county had signed the Parliamentary petition to revoke Article 50 “which has now reached five million signatures”, calling “for the UK to continue in the European Union”.

Mr Wilkinson said: "We should listen to them."

Herefordshire’s current resident population is around 191,000 people, according to statistics from 2017, and of that total, around 40,000 were children and about 151,000 were adults.

This means that about 12 per cent of the Herefordshire electorate had signed the petition to date, at most.

However, surveying the national scene, pro-EU campaigners are feeling the wind in their sails.

Polly Ernest, a long term activist with Herefordshire for Europe, said: “It was an extraordinary day in London with people from all over the country. There were up to 2 million people and no trouble at all. People just wanted to let our politicians know that the British people want to continue to be in the EU in friendship and for peace."