Our Future Our Choice

Our Future Our Choice (OFOC) was a British pro-European Union advocacy group for young people.[1][2]

Our Future Our Choice
OFOC's Logo
AbbreviationOFOC
Formation19 October 2017 (2017-10-19)
FoundersFemi Oluwole
Calum Millbank-Murphy
Lara Spirit
Will Dry
TypeCampaign group
PurposePro-European Union advocacy group for young people
Location
  • Millbank Tower, 21–24 Millbank, London, England, SW1P 4QP
Spokesman
Femi Oluwole
Spokesman
Calum Millbank-Murphy
Co-president
Lara Spirit
Co-president
Will Dry
Websiteofoc.co.uk
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Brexit

Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union

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History

The Twitter account for OFOC was created 19 October 2017.[3] OFOC was incorporated as a company on 19 February 2018.[4] Its four founding members were Femi Oluwole (spokesman), Calum Millbank-Murphy (spokesman), Lara Spirit (co-president) and Will Dry (co-president).[5][6]

Activities

OFOC has heavily criticised the government's approach to negotiating Brexit. In July 2018 it protested outside Chequers during a cabinet summit, holding a banner which read 'Your Brexit Deal Screws Our Future: Explain Yourselves'.[7] In June 2018 OFOC and For our Future's Sake (FFS) unfurled a banner which read "Stop backing Brexit" at a festival event organised by the Labour Party nicknamed "JezFest" after the party's leader Jeremy Corbyn.[8][9]

In the same month OFOC produced a host of billboard advertising targeting frontbench Labour MPs, accusing them of "being in the pockets" of hardline Brexiteers. The adverts were similar to those produced by the Conservative Party for the 2015 general election which suggested that the then Labour leader, Ed Miliband, was "in the pocket" of the former leader of the Scottish National Party, Alex Salmond.[10][11]

This has led left wing commentators such as Novara Media’s Aaron Bastani and journalist and author Paul Mason to question the group's anti-Corbyn stance and where the group gets its funding from.[5] Left wing outlets such as the Red Robin have claimed that OFOC is funded by centre right donors.[12] OFOC's website states that it is "powered by: Best for Britain, Open Britain, and The European Movement". OFOC have advocated the view that Corbynite radical change would be inhibited by Brexit due to a lack of political bandwidth and the potential negative economic consequences.[13]

OFOC more recently has hosted, along with FFS, a number of "Parliament Takeover" events[14] where a large group of young people visit Parliament's central lobby and meet with their local MPs to discuss a people's vote.[15]

OFOC's founders are regular speakers at anti-Brexit events up and down the country. This includes the People's Vote march and more recently the Put It To The People march on the 23 March 2019.[16] The People's Vote campaign claim the latter was attended by over 1 million people, although independent fact-checkers actually suggest between 312,000 and 400,000.[17][18]

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See also

References
  1. Embury, Tom (14 February 2018). "'Our Future, Our Choice': Campaign launched for young people who want Brexit stopped". The Independent. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  2. Morley, Nicole (16 February 2018). "Campaign launched for young people who want to stop Brexit ruining their future". Metro. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  3. "@OFOCBrexit". tweettunnel.com. Tweet Tunnel. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  4. "OUR FUTURE, OUR CHOICE! OFOC! LTD". companycheck.co.uk. Company Check. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  5. Staff writer (20 June 2018). "Grassroots or 'astroturf'? Who's really behind the anti-Brexit group 'Our Future Our Choice'". RT. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  6. "About us". ofoc.co.uk. Our Future Our Choice. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  7. Bloom, Dan (6 July 2018). "Every single Tory Cabinet minister refuses to meet young people against Brexit". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  8. Sanusi, Victoria (17 June 2018). "Labour Live: Protesters held up a 'stop backing Brexit' sign as Jeremy Corbyn spoke". i (newspaper). Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  9. Williams, Zoe (18 June 2018). "Jeremy Corbyn, take note: leftwing remainers won't stay silent on Brexit". The Guardian. Opinion. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  10. Bradley, Sorcha (18 June 2018). "Senior Labour MPs accused of 'being in the pocket of Jacob Rees-Mogg' over Brexit stance". Sky News. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  11. Williamson, David (19 June 2018). "A massive billboard poster will show Llanelli MP Nia Griffith literally in the pocket of Nigel Farage". walesonline.co.uk. WalesOnline. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  12. "The Tory, Liberal and New Labour donors involved with anti-Corbyn 'stop Brexit' youth group". The Red Robin. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  13. "Our future, our choice: Labour must listen to young people on Brexit". LabourList. 27 June 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  14. "Parliament takeover sees hundreds of young people lobby their MPs". Our Future Our Choice. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  15. Curiel, Joshua. "Politics is changing whether the gatekeepers like it or not". The New European. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  16. "PUT IT TO THE PEOPLE MARCH ANNOUNCE FIRST TRANCHE OF KEY SPEAKERS FOR SATURDAY". People's Vote. 21 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  17. Marsh, Sarah; Quinn, Ruth (23 March 2019). "Brexit march: '1 million' rally for people's vote - as it happened". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  18. "Full Fact People's Vote March Count". Retrieved 12 May 2019.

Further reading
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