A big thanks to everyone who came along to Briggate today to show their disgust at these cruel attacks on claimants and people with long-term illness and disability. Members of the public were sympathetic, and we got a fair bit of media coverage – even if it wasn’t all accurate! Our new display boards attracted a fair bit of attention, so hopefully some of the passers-by will have learned a thing or two about what it’s really like to be on benefits and to be constantly threatened with having those benefits cut or removed.
We need to keep fighting – against the bedroom tax, against sanctions and workfare in all their forms, against the vicious Work Capability Tests and all the other attacks on the unwaged and low-paid. We need to be clear that our lives are worth more than this – whether it’s the constant misery of the job-centre and the rent office or whether it’s the misery of long hours of pointless, tedious and unhealthy work at wages that barely put bread on the table. Keep watching this space for details of meetings, actions and info.