Thousands of Britons took to the streets of London on Saturday to protest rising costs of living, following a week of chaos in financial markets.
“The new Conservative government of Liz Truss had promised immediate action to tackle the crisis, but last week’s announcement of targeted tax cuts for the wealthiest sparked more anger and misunderstanding than anything else,” writes Agence France -France Press.
Protesters who converged on Westminster, in central London, responded to the call of various organizations, waving banners with messages such as “Support the strikes”, “Freeze prices, not people” or even “Tax the rich”.
Lily Holder, a 29-year-old protester, said “people are fed up” and that “winter, which promises to be tough for many families struggling to pay their bills, will show the real cruelty” of the government.
“I can’t pay, I won’t pay,” protesters outside King’s Cross station shouted as they burned reproductions of electricity bills.
Climate activists from the group Just Stop Oil, who took part in the protest, blocked several bridges in London and called on the Conservative government to “solve the cost of living crisis and the climate crisis by stopping further investment in oil and gas”.
The Conservatives have been meeting in Birmingham for their annual conference since Sunday and, according to the British press, letters against Liz Truss are already arriving.
“Some Conservatives were taken aback by the imprecise budget announcements he made, while others already miss former Prime Minister Boris Johnson despite his antics and lies,” France-Presse said.
According to the French news agency, most Britons coldly welcomed the “mini-budget” presented by the government last week.
The announcements also sent the markets into a panic and pushed sterling to an all-time low, prompting intervention from the International Monetary Fund and the Bank of England.
Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng said on Friday, to justify the massive tax cuts, that “doing nothing was not an option”.
“Imagine the cost to the UK economy of mass unemployment, collapsing consumption and business closures,” he said.
Kwarteng promised a plan to reduce debt in the medium term, but the rating agency Standard & Poor’s was skeptical and revised down its forecast for the sustainability of British sovereign debt.
The protest mobilizations, which have multiplied since June in all sectors, resumed after a truce observed after the death of Isabel II, on September 8.
Source: TSF
