“This demonstration is therefore more than just a protest at the cost of living, despite how important that it. It is a shout from the rooftops that we have had enough, and we demand better… We will not accept falling living standards and worse pay as the norm.”
By Ian Lavery MP
On the 18th June the Trade Union Congress (TUC) are holding a timely demonstration to protest the government’s dismal response to the cost of living crisis and treatment of working people.
Ever since the last election the current government have engaged in a full frontal assault on workers rights, often hiding behind the excuses of chaos caused by our exit from the European Union or their abysmal handling of the pandemic at every step.
It is so important that we do not fall into the trap of believing the cost of living crisis or the dismantling of workers rights is the result of anything other than this governments incompetence and their ideological commitment to corrosive and outdated free market economics that has been failing working people for decades.
The government could have put an end to fire and rehire. They chose not to. They could have punished P&O for laying off hundreds of workers to be replaced with cheap insecure foreign labour. They chose not to. They could have retained the £20 uplift in universal credit and maintained the energy price cap like other countries. They chose not to. They chose not to do these things entirely on their own volition because that is how this government think working people ought to be treated in our country.
This wound cuts deeper than the past few years since Boris Johnson was elected. Communities across the country, including in my own constituency in Wansbeck, have been dismantled piece by piece by successive Tory governments through the process of deindustrialisation, privatisation and a cruel decade of austerity which has destroyed our high streets and cut public services to the bone.
The current Conservative Administration has tried to convince the public that it is not like the others before it. But their actions tell a different story. The fact is that no matter who is in charge, the Conservative party is in the pockets of the rich and powerful 1% and while they are in power there will be nothing like the fundamental changes needed to make this country work for it’s people and not just those who seek to exploit its resources and workers.
This current government are just engaging in the latest episode in a long story of rising poverty levels, rising unemployment, rising crime rates, poorer health outcomes and the lingering feeling of meaningless and directionless that now pervades our once proud and thriving communities.
This demonstration is therefore more than just a protest at the cost of living, despite how important that it. It is a shout from the rooftops that we have had enough, and we demand better. We will not sit back and accept this managed decline any longer. We will not accept falling living standards and worse pay as the norm. We want a government and a country that dares to take the radical action necessary to improve the lives of ordinary people and shifts the power into their hands away from the ultra-rich who continue to line their pockets on the back of our misery.
Trade Unions have been at the forefront of the fightback, and I offer a huge message of solidarity to the RMT who are taking strike action against mass redundancies and a pay freeze despite their heroic efforts throughout the pandemic. This is a fine example of how Trade Unions are the most reliable pillar in the battle against bad bosses and bad government and every working person should be throwing their full support behind their campaign. Because it is not just on behalf of rail workers, but part of a wider fight to maintain crucial rights and protections that, if disappear, will affect millions of people.
I will be there on Saturday sanding side by side with everyone else who has had enough and demands more, and I hope you will be to. Solidarity.
- Join Ian at the We Demand Better national demonstration in London this Saturday (June 18th). You can find out more about the demo, travel, stewarding, the route we’ll be marching and disabled access here.
- Ian Lavery is the MP for Wansbeck and a regular Labour Outlook contributor. Follow him on Facebook, twitter and Instagram.
- Ian spoke at the “Enough is Enough – Time to Demand Better” mobilising rally for the TUC demo on June 8th, you can watch his contribution here.
