Sir Richard Branson talks about Brexit at Hackney half marathon

Here’s what he said

Virgin’s boss, Sir Richard Branson said Saturday that family sporting events could help turn around Britain’s obesity crisis.

Sir Richard kicked the day off at the starting line and cheered on thousands of runners at the launch of Saturday’s first Hackney festival of fitness, that saw over 10,000 people at the Olympic park.

Sir Richard posted this on Twitter:

.@Virgin_Sport #VSHackney is go! pic.twitter.com/QXYT21ubh2

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) April 30, 2017

Sir Richard spoke at the event and said: “I think the obesity crisis in the UK is turning somewhat and I think it’s events like this that contribute to it getting better.”

“I mean, I was watching the runners and slapping hands as they were running past me and I thought they must be going round and round, I just could believe there were so many people.”

“It is just fantastic the amount of people who turn up for events like this.”

Sir Richard shared his views about the current Brexit negotiations. He said that a “hard Brexit” would be a “disaster” for Britain.

He said to the Press Association that following the EU negotiations it is “important that people have a second chance” if “the facts change or once the facts are known.”

.@virgin_sport #HackneyHalf, let’s do this! https://t.co/IrfR5L2Vad @HollyBranson pic.twitter.com/pkBaSZGrfS

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) April 29, 2017

“The people voted for the Government to come out of Europe based on £350 million more going into the NHS, and a whole lot of things they were promised.”

He added: “Let’s see if these promises come true in a year or two years’ time.”

“And if those promises are not on the table and in fact the country is really suffering, and the costs are going to really cripple the country, then it’s important, I think, there are MPs who can stand up and say something needs to be done about this – we can’t just destroy a beautiful country.”

Sir Richard said that voters in last year’s referendum did so without knowing the “truth.”

A fantastic day @RunHackney #vshackney and these pictures sum it up. Highly recommend this day out @UKRunChat @Virgin_Sport @race_check pic.twitter.com/NWTkYnPuDX

— Paul Addicott (@paul_addicott) April 30, 2017

“when everything has been negotiated, the House of Commons really should be given the facts and they should vote on whether it’s a good idea or not.”

“A hard Brexit would be, I think, a disaster for this country and therefore if they try to push that through, it’s not what people were promised and it’s important that people have a chance to have another think.”