Torbay People Join Anti-Cuts March in London
South Devon sent four full coaches to the March for the Alternative which took place in central London on Saturday 26 March.
More than a quarter of a million people marched through central London to deliver a powerful message about the government’s cuts in public spending. Trade union organisers said that the turnout had exceeded their expectations, and thousands had travelled by coach and by train from as far as Edinburgh to vent their anger at the government’s cuts by marching through London to a rally in Hyde Park.
Devon band ‘Show of Hands’ made their voices heard when they played at the rally:
One of Devon’s greatest success stories, the guys grew up on opposite sides of the River Exe. They were one of only 3 musical performers and went down a storm with the hundreds of thousands present with their song ‘Arrogance, Ignorance & Greed’.
A spokesperson for Torbay & District Anti Cuts Alliance said:
Government spending cuts will damage public services and put more than a million out of work. They will hit the vulnerable, damage communities and undermine much of what holds us together as a society. This is why local people joined the March for the Alternative. We want an alternative in which individuals and companies have to pay all their tax, and where the banks pay a Robin Hood tax. We need to create jobs and boost the sustainable economic growth that will generate the prosperity which is the only long term way to close the deficit and reduce the nation’s debt.
Torbay & District Anti Cuts Alliance can be contacted via:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Torbay-District-Anti-Cuts-Alliance/171342736229394
I was on the March.
I saw no trouble and – along with the hundreds of Devon folk on the protests – had no intention of causing damage or distress to anyone.
What we are going to see over the next few months is the loss of a range of services we have built up over decades.
Torbay will be one of the worst effected areas as we have higher levels of deprivation and greater numbers of elderly people than most parts of the UK.
Our standards of living will decline as wages fall behind inflation, taxes rise and benefits are reduced.
Meanwhile, those whose actions and inactions that caused all this are collecting their bonuses and exporting their profits as if nothing had happened.
If there is an alternative to making our most vulnerable pay for the mistakes of the rich, let’s start talking about it.