Star date: 8th July 2015

PROTESTS AGAINST AUSTERITY IN SALFORD AND MANCHESTER

"You only have to look at Greece to realise that austerity isn't working, that it's wrecking Greece as it will wreck the UK..." Salford Against The Cuts

On the day that Tory Government Chancellor, George Osborne, announced yet more welfare cuts and austerity, protests in Salford and Manchester gave the thumbs down to his budget and sent solidarity to Greece.

Here we have reactions from Salford Against The Cuts, the Green Party, the North West TUC and more, plus loads of photos.

Full details here...

Budget Day began at noon today with a small protest outside Salford Civic Centre, where people carried placards reading `Salford says `OXI' to Tory Cuts!'. Speaking at the rally, Paul Gerrard, chair of Salford Against The Cuts, railed against the Chancellor's unfair budget, which saw welfare slashed, young people targeted and cuts in tax credits.

"As all this is happening the press has revealed that Osborne's family company, Osborne and Little, has been openly trading with companies based in the notorious tax haven of the British Virgin Islands" he said "Are we really supposed to believe that the Tories will extract £5 billion from tax evaders? Or will they come back for more from the welfare budget? Or rain down more departmental cuts which will impact on jobs and services here?"

The protest was also to show solidarity with the Greek people who voted `OXI', or `NO', to more austerity in Sunday's referendum....

"At the same time as austerity is being heaped on workers in the UK, Greek workers have just stuck two fingers up to the gang of blackmailers and extortionists who have been demanding further sacrifices from a people who have seen a 'humanitarian crisis' deepen over five long years" Gerrard explained, listing some of the hardships including "...young workers paying part of their salary to grandparents whose pensions have been halved; young people emigrating to escape 60% youth unemployment; and a 40% increase in suicides

"Osborne has the cheek to preface his budget saying: `You only have to look at the crisis unfolding in Greece to realise that if a country is not in control of its borrowing, the borrowing takes control of the country'" he scoffed "We say: You only have to look at Greece to realise that austerity isn't working, that it's wrecking Greece as it will wreck the UK, that the old parties are corrupt and rotten, that new parties can emerge and can win popular support in elections and referenda. Maybe we should also learn from them and call on Labour councils to demand a referendum on austerity before they implement any more cuts.

"The Greek people have given a massive vote of confidence in the Syriza government" he added "We salute them and stand in 100% solidarity with them. We take inspiration from their success as we prepare for further battles against austerity in Britain."

Also present outside Salford Civic Centre was Norma Parkinson Green from the campaigning Salford S.E.A.R.C.H. community committee... "I'm here because we've had enough cuts now" she said "We've had major problems with all the cuts to transport for disabled people so we want to try and ensure there's no more cuts in Salford. And solidarity with Greece – we can all do it!"

Meanwhile, this evening, Salford people also joined the much larger rally on Market Street in Manchester, where hundreds gathered to express disgust at the Tory Government's agenda. Amongst them was Salford anti-Bedroom Tax campaigner, Maria Brabiner...

"You've all heard me say that the Bedroom Tax is the most vicious, evil piece of legislation ever, and we won't stop campaigning until it is abolished and I'll keep pushing the Labour leadership" she explained "But what makes me really angry today is student maintenance grants being abolished. My mum was a widow bringing up two kids on a council estate and my brother is a doctor. He got a full maintenance grant which he wouldn't get now. This Government is ramming working class kids down, it's absolutely disgusting."

Elsewhere, reaction to the budget included a good slating from Lynn Collins, North West TUC Regional Secretary... "We have a Budget here that does very little for workers as the Chancellor would like to claim" she said "What they give with one hand in pay increases, they take with another from tax credits. They give inheritance tax cuts but take from young people with reliant on housing benefit. This isn't a fair budget, nor a budget we need.

"There needed to be much more about investment in good quality, well paid jobs that would in turn help the Treasury through higher tax receipts and lower benefit payments" she added "Instead the Chancellor has skipped the good quality job creation and gone straight to lower benefit payments.

"The hypocrisy of the Chancellor to use the words 'Social Justice' will not be lost on the many thousands in the region who campaign for social justice and the many millions who will be impacted by cuts" she explained "Young people are unfairly targeted again. Changes to tax credits, housing benefit and the benefits cap show that the Chancellor doesn't actually care if you are in or out of work – the support from the State is being removed for all. Any worker who has the misfortune to lose their job, who might have more than two children and owns their own home, receives less support. The reality of these cuts is very different than the Chancellors rhetoric."

And she responded to the Government's further devolution statement..."Yet still we have no answer on governance arrangements and democracy in deciding on mayors. Whilst devolving power is wanted, there needs be assurances that this won't simply be devolving responsibility for cuts."

Natalie Bennett, Green Party Leader, also laid into the Chancellor... "This is a budget that profoundly fails the British people" she said "We need to build a caring Britain, that provides for the needs of the young and the vulnerable, with a secure economic base that can be the foundation for the future in an economically volatile world. This budget does neither.

"The move towards a living wage standard as a minimum wage is welcome - and reflects a long-term Green Party campaign - but the tax credit and other benefit cuts are going to leave many struggling families close to or over the edge of financial disaster" she explained "And the living wage not applying to the under 25s, many of whom also won't be eligible for housing benefit, will leave many in impossible situations.

"The dropping of the level of Employment Support Allowance is a direct attack on the ill and disabled" she added "And the drop in the benefits cap comes in the light of a legal ruling that the existing inadequate level puts Britain in breach of its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This in one of the world's richest economies is simply a disgrace.
 
"The cuts to student maintenance grants are a symbol of the way this government has constructed its economic strategy on using rising household debt to fund tax cuts and fuel economic growth and refusing to rein in our still out-of-control, fraud-ridden financial sector, rather than building a strong, diverse, low-carbon economy of healthy small businesses and cooperatives making and growing products" she reflected.

The reaction of Salford, Manchester and North West people who took to the streets today could be summed up by one banner carried around Manchester... `Stick Your Budget'...