By Dave Bowman (Pics D Bowman)

‘Bollocks to Brexit’ trends at Big Meeting

IF THE RECENT 135th Durham Miners’ Gala is any guide, UK Labour’s slow journey to Remain will not precipitate electoral disaster in the party’s North of England heartlands after all.

Since the calamitous EU referendum of June 23rd 2016 when the early results declared from Tyne and Wear alerted pro-Europeans to the UK-wide disaster to come, the media narrative has always been that challenging the ‘will of the people’ would consign Labour to the political wilderness in areas like the North-East for years to come.

But at this summer’s Gala - or the Big Meeting as it is known locally - the message was loud and clear: Bollocks to Brexit…and Bollocks to new Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson!