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Hundreds protest across UK, demand govt. action to tackle rising cost of living

Saeed Pourreza

Press TV, London

Hundred of people held protest rallies in London and other UK cities on Saturday, demanding government action to tackle the sharply rising cost of living.

While the British government blames the skyrocketing cost of living on the global energy price hikes, protesters in London and elsewhere around the country beg to differ.

One of the marches organized by The People's Assembly headed for Downing Street in London where they called for the resignation of scandal-hit Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

With inflation at a 30-year high and amid steep rises in the cost of fuel, heating and basic foodstuff, protesters waved placards reading "Tax the Rich" and "Save Fuel Burn a Banker."

The main demonstrations attracted around 200-300 people each in London and Glasgow.

Former Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn addressed the London protest, where demonstrators waved a large banner reading "Cut Energy Bills."

The People's Assembly's National Secretary Laura Pidcock tweeted that "working class people shouldn't have to pay for a crisis they didn't create."

Low-income families are under extra pressure after the government returned welfare benefit payments to pre-pandemic levels, having increased them temporarily during lockdowns.

Britain's Trades Union Congress (TUC) said last week that the number of people on Universal Credit benefits had increased by 1.3 million since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A TUC opinion poll of workers showed that one in eight said they would have difficulty paying for basic needs in the coming months.
More painful tax increases are expected to foot the vast bill for Covid.

(via AFP)


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