Deciding the future of Britain is everyone’s birthright

On June 23rd, the United Kingdom will decide whether to leave or remain in the EU.

Operation Black Vote and Saatchi & Saatchi today launches a poster campaign urging people to go to the polls to vote in the EU Referendum. The campaign is designed to demonstrate that the future of Britain is within everyone’s power to decide: they simply have to exercise their democratic right to vote.

Taking inspiration from the iconic Bullingdon Club images, the poster represents the UK’s diverse population, and shows that everyone, not just the privileged few, holds the power in this debate.

The posters will be on 98ft billboards all around the country.

Sadiq Khan, Mayor for London, stated:

“This is the OBV that I have worked closely with over many years. They are doing what they do best, by encouraging higher voter turnout from under-represented communities'.

Operation Black Vote exists to ensure there is greater racial justice and equality throughout the UK at all times, and to achieve this, it is essential that the BME communities get out and vote in the EU Referendum.

4 million people from the BAME community have the right to vote in this Referendum, but statistically only half of these people will actually go out and vote. OBV’s recent nationwide consultation with the BAME community across the UK revealed that the majority feel alienated by the existing political rhetoric and current campaigning from both the Remain and Leave camps.

Simon Woolley, Director of Operation Black Vote, said:

“At Operation Black Vote we’ve always encouraged the UK’s Black and minority ethnic communities to vote and engage in the democratic debate. This we argue is not only good for our democracy, but also to ensure we have greater racial equality for everyone.”

“Our playful take on the infamous ‘Bullingdon Club’, seeks to illustrate that this most important referendum is not for the few and particularly not only for the privileged, but for everyone. We want to urge BME communities to discuss and debate the big issues in this referendum such as equality, prosperity and immigration. But above we want all communities to vote. For many of us, and especially for our children, this is our birthright too.”

“We all hope that this poster will open up the debate about belonging, being heard and having a stake in our society within this crucial EU debate.”

Adam Afriyie MP added:

“It’s absolutely vital that every British citizen has their say Black and white, young and old.”

Magnus Djaba, the UK CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon, said:

“Voting in this referendum is the birthright of every single Briton. We owe it to all the people from across history who fought for their right to vote, to exercise ours.”

This campaign is also being supported by the following organisations:
Bite the Ballot, British Chinese Project, Diaspora Debating Association, Hindu Council UK, Operation Disabled Vote, The Muslim Council of Britain, Unlock Democracy and Just West Yorkshire.

Notes for editor:
1) OBV have run a nationwide series of EU debates which took place in Bradford, Bristol, Birmingham, London and the Vale of Glamorgan.
2) OBV is non-partisan political campaigning organisation.
3) The term ‘Black’ is a political term. It refers to African, Asian, Caribbean and other ethnic minorities.