In August 2018, Esler spoke at a People's Vote rally in Edinburgh. People's Vote is a campaign group calling for a public vote on the final Brexit deal between the UK and the European Union. On 23 April 2019, he was announced as a candidate for Change UK in London in the May 2019 European Parliament election. The party announced its intention to stop Brexit and pursue a second referendum on membership of the EU. It gained 3.4% of the vote nationally and failed to win any seats. In London the party achieved 5.3% of the vote, but this was only just over half of the number required for Esler as lead candidate to win the 8th and last seat under the d'Hondt system of proportional representation used in the election.