Protesters from Stroud join mass Anti-Austerity march in London

More than 200 people from Stroud descended on the capital on Saturday to join the thousands from around the country united under the banner End Austerity Now.

The protesters denounced the government’s public sector cuts, the treatment of the disabled and the vulnerable through welfare cuts, and the privatisation of the NHS.

Working alongside branches of the Green Party, and local branches of unions Unite and Unison, protest group Stroud Against the Cuts organised two full coaches from Stroud and Cirencester, which left for London at dawn.

Speaking at the demonstration, James Beecher, founder of Stroud Against the Cuts, said that austerity was a cover against increasingly inequality and that the burden of taxation and cuts form the Conservative’s austerity program had fallen hardest upon the poor and the disabled.

“I think the main message is that we are not going to stand by and watch while the policies the government enact ruin people’s lives,” he said.

“The government has achieved its financial objectives through cutting public spending rather than increasing taxation of the rich. The poor have paid the burden of taxation and cuts in the Conservative’s austerity program, not the super rich and the tax-avoiding corporations.

“Each decision that the government makes can be pushed back by people coming together powerfully like this and resisting changes that ruin people’s lives. I think it’s important to send a message that when new policies come in, the government is not going to be able to just push them through easily - they are going to face a fight.”

The protest march was organised by the People’s Assembly, who said that a quarter of a million attended.

The mood was overwhelmingly good-natured as crowds bearing placards and signs streamed from the Bank of England to Parliament Square.

Prominent speakers included Labour leadership hopeful Jeremy Corbyn, Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and Unite the Union General Secretary Len McCluskey.

Also attending the march was John Marjoram, Stroud district councillor for the Trinity ward, who said: “I think the whole concept of austerity doesn’t touch the rich at all, its ordinary people who are suffering.

“There are a number of messages here today from hundreds of organisations, parties and people, but the key message is one of solidarity against cuts to the most vulnerable in our society.

He added that it was “unthinkable” to cut disability and childcare benefits while spending £100billion on “abhorrent” Trident nuclear weapons.

Campaigners, politicians and ordinary people from Stroud all joined in the march, with some veteran protesters as well as some first-timers.

Gloucestershire County Councillor Sarah Lunnon noted that the Green’s Natalie Bennett was the only party leader to attend the rally.

She said, “Only the Green party understands austerity is a confidence trick being played on the British people, throwing hundreds of thousands into poverty and reducing services and protection for us all.

“I am incredibly moved and inspired by those who marched on Saturday, for their communities, families and for a decent future for our country.”

Speaking outside the Bank of England, Stroud Against the Cuts co-ordinator Hannah Basson argued that austerity was a Westminster choice rather than a necessity.

“All austerity has done is created artificial divisions and bigger gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ and created an inherently more unequal society.”

She said that as a health worker she had seen many people on disability benefits becoming more ill because of welfare cuts.

“I’m seeing people having such a terrible time through cuts that I don’t believe are necessary. I’m meeting a lot of people that have been devastated by the government’s austerity program already, and are scared as to where the new £12billion round of welfare cuts will fall."

Fellow co-ordinator Caroline Molloy, from Stroud, said: “I think like many people here I am frightened about what the government is going to do both to me and to people I care about.

“Under the austerity of the last five years we’ve seen a massive transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. These cuts are going to fall on anyone who can’t fight back. So being at events like this gives me courage.”