I’m marching against the Government’s reforms of the National Health Service. The Government has no mandate and these proposed reforms will leave valuable local services in a shambles. It just isn’t right. Like most ordinary people who are not in the Cabinet, I can’t simply afford to jump the queue and pay to “go private” when I need to.
Victoria Holloway, Essex
We’re here in defence of our pensions, and the fire service. Cuts to the fire service are already a reality in the capital and will affect the rest of the UK soon. Our job is to protect the safety of the public, but at the moment we are so worried about our jobs and pensions it’s difficult to fully concentrate on the job in hand. Some days it’s really hard to find the motivation we need to go to work. But, of course, we do – and always will.
FBU members from London and Wales
The public simply don’t agree with the cuts. Bankers are getting away with murder while it’s ordinary people who suffer. But we should take inspiration from events in Egypt. If the Government can do a U-turn on plans to sell off our forests, they can U-turn on their cuts agenda, too. This march does not mark the end of public services but the beginning of a mass protest movement that will not go away until the Government falls or ends its programme
of cuts.
Trevor, People’s Charter, Manchester
We’ve come to London to protect our pensions. Cuts are being made across the board and most of them are unnecessary. Instead of seeing our friends and colleagues made redundant we want to see an organic solution. It needs to be slower, allowing for “natural wastage”. Many of our schools have been condemned by the cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future programme and kids are being forced to drop out because they have lost their EMA.
Ian, Elizabeth, Dawn and Lester, NASUWT, Stockton-on-Tees Association
I travelled to London with members from Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield and Hull. We are against all cuts. Our members, many of whom are poorly paid already, are heavily dependent on family tax credits, family allowance and Sure Start. Without adequate childcare, many cannot afford to go to work at all. Many people I know face a real risk of poverty as long as
the Government continues to make cuts on this scale.
Catherine Godfrey, USDAW
I’ve worked all my life so that my kids can have an education. Now, because of the rise in student fees, I have to sell my house so that I can pay for their education. I have four children – two boys and two girls – and have already worked out that if the Government does not back down I will have to sell my home. In fact, I already have the exact date in mind when we will have to sell: August 2020.
Phil Katz, NUT, Cambridge
This Government does not seem to have any interest in collecting the £120 billion taxes we lose every year in avoidance and fiddles. I’m marching because anything that brings attention to this has to be helpful. I only hope that someone in the Government takes some notice. They haven’t so far.
John Elvin, Unite, London
Young people today suffer from a lack of jobs. They have no hope and no vision. I have a 20-year-old son studying graphic design. He can’t even find a part-time job to help with the cost of his studies. It’s the same for all of his friends. I’m marching to highlight the broad spectrum of opposition to these cuts. No one here caused the financial crisis, yet it is working people who are paying the price.
David Luxton, Prospect
These cuts are totally unnecessary. Instead of slashing public jobs and services, the Government should be creating green jobs. Large-scale cuts will not get us out of recession. It will only make things a whole lot worse.
Grahame Lee, Green Party
I know from personal experience in my work that we would all be a lot better off if the government was more serious about collecting the revenues it is owed. Instead we are paying the price, with our jobs and pensions under threat, while the super rich squirrel their money away for a rainy day. For the ordinary worker, every day is a rainy day at the moment.
David, Association of Revenue and Customs Officers, Kent
I teach at a college in London. Until recently, I definitely noticed a change in the student population. There were more students from non-traditional backgrounds choosing to come and study in London. Now that has been reversed. The cost is too prohibitive. In a couple of years, the positive changes we had seen have been completely reversed. I’d be surprised in anyone who is not from a particularly privileged background comes to London to study in the future. They simply won’t be able to afford it. Also, students are changing their course of study mid-way through their degree, as they seek better-paid employment in the private sector. I don’t know where the Government expects the next generation of teachers and lecturers to come from.
Member of the UCU
I left my home in North Devon at half-past five this morning and travelled on two different trains to get here. Was it worth it? It will be, if anyone takes any notice. I suppose I came to prove to this Government, which nobody voted for, that their cuts aren’t just affecting our inner cities but the entire country. Libraries, care centres for the elderly – of whom I am one, I’m 77 – are being closed down while bankers take home a disgusting amount of money. Today is my first ever march. I wish I had started earlier.
Clarice Tidy, Barnstable
We were actually told we shouldn’t come today. But we did, and some of us even came in uniform, to say enough is enough. We’re being asked to work longer hours, for relatively less pay, and can’t even be sure there is enough money in the pot to pay our pensions. I’m proud of my job, but would seriously consider leaving the service if I thought I’d find alternative employment. Trouble is there aren’t any other jobs to go to. Will the Government listen? Unless they want serious unrest in our prisons, they’ll have to.
Members of the Prison Officers’ Association
I’m carrying this banner [which features photos of David Cameron, George Osborne, Vince Cable and Michael Gove] to demonstrate that the whole Cabinet is responsible for what’s happening. I have personally lost work through the cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future programme, as have many others in the north-west of England. You have to build your way out of recession. If the government shuts everything down now how can we possibly hope to rebuild in the future. I fear we’re heading in completely the wrong direction. And yes, I believe it will get much, much worse for working families like mine. My partner, a nursery care assistant, has been unemployed since she lost her job just after Christmas.
Brian, UCATT, Wirral
I have never belonged to a political party or a trade union, but we both work bloody hard, as a PA and a furniture salesman, to bring up our kids so they can get a good education. Neither of us went to university and now it looks as though our kids – we have three – won’t get the chance to go either. If that happens, I’ll be heartbroken. It’s all we’ve ever really wanted for them. We both voted for the Liberal Democrats. Never again.
Julie Legg and partner Rod, Bournemouth
We’re marching beneath these balloons to demonstrate that there is an alternative way to deal with this crisis. The Government cannot simply set about dismantling public services while the people who caused this crisis get away scot-free. I’m grateful that my three children have either graduated already or are about to. There is no way I would wish them to be saddled with such a huge amount of debt. Everywhere you look these ideological cuts are beginning to hurt, and it’s the most vulnerable people who will suffer first and suffer hardest.
Barbara Wade and Steve Cook, Unison, Merseyside
It’s impossible to tell you in one sentence why I am here today. But if I had to pick just one thing I would say this: The Government are stealing our kids’ future, while pretending that it is necessary to pay off the deficit. When they say: “We are all in this together” what they really mean is: “You lot are in this together, but we’re all doing fine, thank you very much.”
Tony, National Association of Shop Stewards
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Union leaders united to call for a political leadership to match the strength and passion of the marchers and their cause.
The march was still leaving its starting point at Waterloo Bridge at 2.30pm when Len McCluskey of Unite told the hundreds of thousands already in Hyde Park: “We need a strong, powerful opposition. We need you now, on the barricades with us.” John Hannett, of the shopworkers union USDAW, said the deficit had to be addressed “but we need politicians who empathise with the people affected by these cuts”.
Labour leader Ed Miliband drew some heckles and booing when he said that some cuts would be necessary, but left to cheers after saying: “Our struggle is to fight to preserve, protect and defend the best of the services we cherish because they represent the best of the country we love.”
Speakers called for alternatives including a fairer tax system, a Robin Hood tax on the City and big businesses and the need for growth and investment. Calls for strike action received loud cheers. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the ministerial claim that “we are all in this together” was a cynical lie that was treating the public like fools, “but the British people will not be fooled”.
Mr McCluskey praised the direct action of UK Uncut and called for the unions to engage in co-ordinated strike action against the cuts. Civil service union leader Mark Serwotka said every single cut in public spending should be opposed and that there should be “no cuts whatsoever”.
Mr Serwotka prompted loud cheers when he asked the marchers to “imagine if we all took strike action together across our
public services”. When he asked the crowd to “make some noise if you want to take strike action”, the response of cheers, whistles and vuvuzelas was deafening.
By Chris McLaughlin and Martin Russo
