Thousands of angry people across Britain took to the streets on Saturday to protest against the Tory-led government’s austerity measures that have seen deep spending cuts and led to millions of job losses.
Marches were held in London, Glasgow and Belfast with protesters calling for an immediate review of the policies that, they said, were ruining the lives of ordinary people.
“Austerity is failing”, “Cameron has butchered Britain” and “No cuts” read some of the banners carried by protesters in London. The Trade Union Congress (TUC), which had organised the protest, claimed that some 100,000 people took part. “The evidence is mounting that austerity is failing. More than 2.5 million people are out of work, a further three million are not working enough hours to make ends meet, and wages have been falling every month for the last three years,” said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.
Labour leader Ed Miliband was booed when, addressing the Hyde Park rally, he warned that there would be some spending cuts even under a Labour government.
“I have said whoever was in government now there would be some cuts, but this government has shown that cutting too far and too fast, self-defeating austerity is not the answer, it is not the answer to Britain’s problems,” he said.
