The controversial ‘Vote Leave’ battlebus which carried a widely discredited claim about EU funding has been re-branded to correct Brexiteers’ “exaggerations and lies”.
A bus emblazoned with the promise that the £350m a week Britain gives to the EU would be spent on the NHS instead has been purchased and repainted by Greenpeace.
The charity covered up the “bogus” promise with thousands of questions written on stickers formed in a montage that spells ‘TIME FOR TRUTH’ in huge white letters.
Prominent Leave campaigners were forced to distance themselves from the £350m a week claim after it was rubbished as “misleading” by the UK Statistics Authority and branded a “mistake” by Nigel Farage.
To counter the claim, Greenpeace are posing questions from people who voted for Remain and Brexit.
“The referendum campaign was marred by exaggerations and lies, but now we need the truth,” Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said.
”That’s why we’re covering Boris Johnson’s battle bus with thousands of questions for the new government from Leave and Remain voters.”
Sauven targeted concerns over the cleanliness of rivers and beaches, and air pollution as well as climate change, following last month’s Brexit vote.
He also said the public wanted “truth and answers” from new prime minister Theresa May, who he said “only 329 MPs got to vote on who the next Prime Minister would be. The public didn’t get a say.”
Some of the messages include:
- What will happen to me? I’m German and live on a remote island and run the post office for 17 years. Will I have to sell up and go to Germany? I pay my taxes here will I have access to the NHS? What are you planning to do to keep British waters clean? Margit, Papa Westray
- How will funding for scientific research be safe-guarded? Currently there is a lot of collaboration between UK and European scientists, but how will these research projects be funded if Britain is out-side the EU? Saranna, Westerham
- As a PhD student and a midwife I would like to know how by leaving Europe the financial deficit will prevent social inequality developing further. Wendy, London
The bus is being painted throughout Monday and the decoration work is taking place outside Parliament.
Despite having been re-branded several times since the battle for Brexit, Greenpeace confirmed it paid £25,000 to hire and put the Vote Leave messaging back on.
The bus’s original claim attracted controversy during the EU referendum campaign for being posed with by leading Brexit campaigners Boris Johnson and Gisela Stewart.
Despite claiming that the £350m in EU contributions - a contested figure - could fund the NHS instead, Leave MP Michael Gove promised only £100m to the health service as part of his failed leadership bid.