In the fourth of our exclusive Bremain interviews with high profile Remain activists, we meet Kyle Taylor, Director of Fair Vote Project. Kyle set up the project in the wake of whistleblower allegations relating to global data misappropriation and law-breaking in the EU Referendum.

Based in London, United Kingdom, Kyle Taylor is the founder and director of The Fair Vote Project which is focused on lasting reform, campaigning for fundamental changes to the Electoral Commission and a Digital Bill of Rights for Democracy. He also works across a range of progressive political, cause-based and social enterprise projects through his Social Enterprise: Overton Group, with a particular specialisation in Millennial and Gen Z engagement.

Previously, Kyle was the national campaign strategist for Best for Britain, one of the UK’s largest second referendum organisations. He has also campaigned for a binding government-sanctioned NHS and care convention, worked on a migrant rights campaign in the Middle East and regularly supports an international education charity across a range of areas.

He co-managed the coordinated campaign for Hillary Clinton in North Carolina and in 2015 finished a four-year post as the Chief of Staff and Campaigns Director to the former Minister of State for Justice, Sir Simon Hughes. Kyle has lived on four continents and travelled and worked in over 100 countries.  He also enjoys taking on immense physical challenges to raise money for charity. He has run the London marathon, swam an opener water marathon in the English channel, trekked to Everest Base Camp and summited Mount Kilimanjaro twice, personally raising over £30,000 for various charities. Kyle was a Presidential Scholar at The American University and graduated Summa cum Laude in 2006 with two bachelor’s degrees. While there he served as Student Government President and was selected to be student commencement speaker. He gained a Master’s Degree with distinction in International Politics and Communication from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2009.

Kyle is currently heading a legal challenge against the government, calling for a public inquiry into Brexit cheating

Sian Shaw: “What is the likely time frame for the legal process & how high do you rate your chances of success?”

Kyle Taylor: “Legal processes can take quite a while but we believe our aim has a high chance of success because it’s a very reasonable request of the government. The goal is for a decision by the end of the year but for the claim to be in progress when Parliament debates whatever deal (or no deal) that has been secured to put additional pressure on MPs.”

Pam Wallace: “There have been many court cases since Brexit and only one that has succeeded (Gina Miller). What do you see as different about this one?”

Kyle Taylor: “I think what’s different about this case is the basis of its claim. This suit isn’t about the merits of Leave or Remain – it’s about the fundamental institution of democracy, how that was undermined and abused in the referendum and why that justifies proper scrutiny, reform and remedy. This is something that everyone should be able to get behind whether leave or remain because it’s so much bigger than a single issue. This is about the very fabric that is meant to hold our democratic society together.”

Karen Watling: “Bearing in mind the vitriol that the referendum has wrought setting friend against friend and family against family, how do you see the future of the UK?”

Kyle Taylor: “I think – regardless of what happens with Brexit – we’re looking at another 5-10 years of discontent. I know that’s not an easy answer but I think it’s accurate. We’re at a crossroads as a country and, more broadly, as a collection of liberal democracies. This happens about every 100 years in the UK – a realignment of political parties and of the fundamental ideals that frame those parties’ core reason for being. This time, it’s the internationalists vs. the nativists. Brexit showed us this is the new fault line and no political party in its current iteration accurately represents those interests, leaving everyone feeling like they don’t REALLY have a proper partisan home. This realignment will be exhausting, fraught and complicated but in the end it will leave us with two new main parties that look and feel nothing like what they look and feel like now. The last thing I’ll say is that the core problem that will complicate this process is the propogation of “fake news” as it’s called. We need to – for the sake of democracy – fight the idea that there are mutliple truths immediately, incessantly and fully. A functioning society is dependent on shared information and shared experience. We’ve got to all be working from the same baseline truth and fact or else we’re genuinely living in alternate realities. There is a lot of work to do but I believe we can do it. Never give up. Never surrender!”

Roy Stonebridge: “Is Internet and social media campaigning controllable?”

Kyle Taylor: “In short, the answer is yes. That doesn’t mean, however, that we’re close to controlling these mediums. The biggest hurdles remain public awareness about these issues and lawmaker “literacy” around how digital spaces work. We’ve got 20th-Century lawmakers attempting to regulate 21st-Century technologies. The easiest “first step” is to require digital advertising to be treated the same as a leaflet that comes through a letterbox with an imprint so people know who sent it and from where. Couple that with an online database of all adds and easy access to targeting information (so people can find out exactly how and why something is showing up in their newsfeed) and we will be on our way. The next step is getting a full public inquiry started with a 12-month remit to investigate, take evidence and recommend immediate action to safeguard our democracy.”

Elspeth Williams: “Long-term campaigning is exhausting. How do you keep focused, stay positive, pick yourself up after a bad day?”

Kyle Taylor: “Oh my goodness, isn’t it?! This is particularly true when you feel like “your side” hasn’t had even a small victory in a long time. That’s because progress is always 8 little steps back then one GIANT step forward. I keep focussed – ironically – by checking out for at least an hour a day. I check out by watching an episode or two of my favourite TV show – Parks and Recreation – to get some inspiration from Leslie Knope. I also read fiction that’s entirely escapism every day. After a bad day I pick myself up by speaking to close friends while I fold laundry. I know it sounds bizarre but combining a mundane physical activity with “real” conversation to a close friend forces the brain to be fully present and pushes the bad day away. I also never make big decisions in the moment. Sleep on it and things inevitably make more sense the next day. I stay positive by remembering how many people there are working so hard to fight for what they believe in and also reminding myself that I am a very privileged person and with privilege comes responsibility to fight for those who aren’t able to.”

Pat Kennedy: “Can you give us one inspirational comment or quote to help keep us focused through this difficult time when it can be hard to keep optimistic.”

Kyle Taylor: “My goodness, there are so many quotes that keep me going. I’ll share two that I have written on my wall: “Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.” – JFK. Have any truer words been spoken? “Never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it.” – Hillary Rodham Clinton. This resonates with me more than anything else right now because we’re in an environment that those opposed to our point of view suggest somehow it’s anti-country or anti-democracy to believe passionately in what we believe in. This is always the tactic of the powerful to suppress those resisting wrong. Did the suffragettes stop when it got hard? No. Did the allied forces give up when the Nazis were storming across Europe? No. Fighting for what’s right, true and just is always worth it.”

You can find out more information at Fair Vote or on Twitter @fairvoteuk

Next month Bremainers will be putting questions to Votes for Life campaigner Harry Shindler MBE.

James Gambrill: “Can you describe a typical day for you and the B4B team in the campaign to stopping Brexit?”

Eloise Todd: “No day looks the same, except for the campaign huddle first thing in the morning to check in on the news of the day and what the political activity has been overnight, and to plan ahead, for example on social media. My day could involve meeting with partner organisations in the movement, twisting the arms of MPs to get on board for a people’s vote with the option to stay in the EU, checking in with team members, coming up with creative ideas to push us to get to more people with our messages, or travelling round the country to meet our supporters, or maybe doing some media. For the team as a whole, any day might include drafting supporter emails, managing our social media channels, responding to activists and volunteers, running our campaigning training sessions, meeting with MPs, conducting research and writing research briefings, meeting with funders, brainstorming campaign ideas and managing general office operations! It’s full on and very busy, but very motivating and exciting work. We remind ourselves every day that we CAN (and WILL!) stop Brexit – but we all have to pull together for that goal while we can! We feel very strongly that the fight to stop Brexit is crucial while we are still a full member of the EU – for as long as we have the chance to stay in, that’s what we should be fighting for – the chance for that option to be put to the people.”

Roy Stonebridge: “What do you think the questions should be on the People’s Vote ballot paper?”

Eloise Todd: “One thing is clear – the people’s vote ballot paper must include the option to stay in the European Union! It might seem like a no-brainer but the worst case scenario would be that MPs make it about ‘how’ and not ‘whether’ to leave the EU.  We’ve always said that the people’s vote should give people the opportunity to compare the deal the government come back with to the deal we currently have – meaning the referendum question would be between the deal Theresa May manages to negotiate (and if that’s No Deal, it’s No Deal), versus our current deal – the terms of which we have been developing for over forty years. There is some discussion about whether we should have three options on the ballot paper which we are following carefully – but the non-negotiable is option to stay in the EU. Too many MPs have been shy to come out on that specific point, so Bremain In Spain supporters that are vocal about the need to stay must make sure they write their MPs, or to MPs they have a connection with in the UK – we really need to embolden them to be fearless and defend staying in the EU.”

John Hodges: “What can be done to enhance Jeremy Corbyn’s chances of persuading the Labour Party to change their position on EU membership?”

Eloise Todd: “The question is perhaps more what the Labour Party can do to persuade Jeremy Corbyn to change his position on EU membership! Labour Party Conference this year will be vital. People from across the party are tabling motions to stay in the EU, and to call for a people’s vote: that’s the point at which Jeremy Corbyn may take a different path on Brexit.

We’re also showing MPs research that shows than many more Labour voters voted to stay in the European Union than those that voted to leave. In effect, Labour is pursuing the policy of Brexit despite the fact the majority of their members, voters and increasingly, the country at large want to stay in. Leaving the EU is a policy most passionately supported in the Conservative party. Labour wouldn’t have supported the poll tax and wouldn’t support privatisation of the NHS even if a majority of Conservative voters did – we want them to show that consistency on Brexit.”

Pat Kennedy: “What was your immediate reaction to the news on the morning of 24th June 2016?”

Eloise Todd: “That whole week in the run-up to the referendum was obliterated by the murder of my amazing friend   Jo Cox. I went to bed the night of the referendum earlier than I might have, my grief was starting to kick in after the organisation of the events we had put on in Jo’s memory on 22 June were over. Normally I would have pulled an all-nighter to watch the results coming in. As it was, I woke up around 3am on 24 June and grabbed my phone to look at the latest results. I got the shock of my life. Leave were ahead by about 800,000 at that point. And all I could think of was the fact that the urban results come in first, and the rural areas take longer to count…and I thought that meant the gap was going to get wider. And it did.

Eloise Todd: “The resignations of David Davis and Boris Johnson show just how impossible it is going to be for Theresa May – or anyone for that matter – to present a deal that unites supporters of hard and so-called soft Brexit. With hard brexit, it would mean massive economic harm for our country. And while ‘soft’ sounds nice and fluffy, it would be the opposite of Take Back Control, being subject to laws decided by the EU with us losing our sovereignty. The good news is that against this backdrop we have the opportunity to make the case for staying in the EU.

More broadly the resignations show how much hot water the brexiters have got themselves into. They made promises to a hopeful public that they would never be able to deliver. Now that Brexit has played out a little more and we have seen for sure that the promises of Brexit Britain are impossible to deliver, they have jumped ship.

The possibility of a leadership challenge is something we’re all watching for – but it’s hard to say whether Johnson or Rees-Mogg- or even Gove –  will actually put their head above the parapet. On some level they must acknowledge that there is no majority in the country for hard Brexit and nor is there one in parliament. Polling shows that the country consistently rejects soft Brexit, and the people are becoming more in favour of staying in by the day. We are also looking out for the threat of MPs wanting to pull together to deliver Brexit. They risk being two years behind the will of the people, and that’s why signing up and helping us deliver the option to remain – in a meaningful vote, in a people’s vote, any which way we can – is so vital!”

Dave Peachey: “With such a dynamic situation & ministers resigning, is now the time to think of different strategies to #stopbrexit?”

Eloise Todd: “We know what we need to do. We need to help get information to people who want to know about the impact of Brexit, we need to connect people that are worried about Brexit to their MPs, and we need to persuade Parliament to do what’s best for the country, not for their own career. and in some ways the volatility doesn’t change that – we need remains the same. The core tenets of the strategy don’t change: we need to show the public why we should stay in the EU, and we need MPs to know how their constituents feel. These remain the most important elements of any strategy to stop Brexit, no matter what  is going on in Westminster.

However with little time to go, we need to be open to whatever gives us a chance of getting a proper choice for Parliament and people on the Brexit deal. Fighting Brexit is going to require some flexibility and the ability to adapt to all the various different political scenarios that may play out in Westminster.”

https://www.bestforbritain.org/