We will not let you make cuts
Steve Score, Leicester Socialist Party
Two weeks after a meeting of trade unionists and campaigners agreed to set up Leicestershire Anti-Cuts Alliance, and defying the threat of a council fine for using amplification, we held our first protest on 14 June.
Over 50 people turned up in the city centre to hear speakers focusing on disability benefit cuts. Labour’s work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall is a Leicester MP.
I chaired the rally, saying: “This battle is about uniting those affected by benefit cuts, those impacted by cuts in services, both national and local, with workers whose jobs are under threat because of cuts. When just 50 families have as much wealth as half the population, don’t tell us there’s no money for services and benefits. We need to build a movement bringing everyone together, in which the trade unions can play a crucial role.”
Abi Broomfield, disability campaigner, said: “A million people could lose their Personal Independence Payments (PIP), including me. These cuts are going to kill disabled people.
“After 15 years of Tory austerity, which saw hundreds of thousands of disabled people die, Labour and Liz Kendall have decided to punch down on our community. We won’t give in, and we won’t tolerate these cuts.”
Independent MP
Independent Leicester MP Shockat Adam said: “Why is it that four out of ten people in the sixth richest country in the world live in poverty? When a Labour government cuts £5 billion from the welfare budget, but has a target of military spending of £60 billion. Warfare over welfare is a political choice.”
Activists from the trades union council, the National Education Union (NEU), Unite Community, and campaigners fighting to save their libraries and community centres threatened by Leicester’s Labour council, also spoke.
Socialist Party member Heather Rawling spoke, describing the battle against the attack on democratic rights to campaign and protest, with Leicester Labour council banning stall tables, banners, and amplification. The protest was in defiance of all these restrictions, and police and city wardens were not able to intervene.
The Socialist Party had a campaign stall at the demo, alongside other groups. When we set up a table earlier in the day, we were told to take it down.
It seems the authorities have the confidence to stop us when there are only a few people there. But not when we are there in large numbers.
- Leicestershire Anti-Cuts Alliance: “Debate” with Liz Kendall on the disability cut – Sunday 22 June, 2pm, Secular Hall, Humberstone Gate, Leicester
