Thousands of people took to the streets of Manchester on October 1 as the ruling Conservative Party (the Tories) commenced its annual conference in the city. Organized by the People’s Assembly Against Austerity, the protest action brought together a broad coalition of activists, trade unions, climate action groups, and anti-war and anti-racism organizations and campaign groups.
“Wages Up, Bills Down, Tories Out,” “Cut War Not Welfare,” “Wages Not Weapons,” and “Defend the Right to Strike” were some of the slogans that were visible among the sea of protesters as they marched through the city. The action was held as part of a national week of action organized by the People’s Assembly in Manchester between September 30 and October 3.
For two years now, the majority of households across the UK have been in the throes of a severe cost of living crisis, with inflation hitting a multi-decade high of 11.1% by October 2022. By March 2023, food prices had soared by an increase of 19%, their highest level since 1977. While these figures have since come down, high prices of essential commodities, including food, have continued to exert pressure on households.
While the government has announced the lowering of its price cap on energy, which determines the amount energy suppliers can charge households, the simultaneous withdrawal of state support will actually see energy prices rise for the poorest households.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has also threatened a crackdown on social benefits.
Living standards have continued to decline as nearly 13 million adults across the country are struggling under high levels of household debt. Meanwhile, the Bank of England imposed 14 consecutive interest rate hikes between December 2021 and August 2023.
The Tory government’s pursuit of an agenda of austerity 13 years into power sparked a massive wave of labor unrest in 2022, with hundreds of thousands of workers including teachers, National Health Service Service (NHS) staff, and rail workers staging walkouts to demand a living wage that is at least commensurate with inflation.
Attempts by the government to dodge meaningful pay increases for workers by claiming that this would push inflation even higher have been repeatedly debunked. Analysis has also shown that the inflation experienced in the country last year was a product of corporate profiteering and price gouging.
The demands raised by the national demonstration included an end to the cost of living crisis by cutting profits and increasing wages, taxing the rich to fund social care and security, an end to the housing crisis in the country and building public housing, and the scrapping of anti-union and anti-protest laws that have come into force in the past two years.
The National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT), which has organized successive strikes since last June, (and whose members are going on strike again this week alongside workers from the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen, ASLEF), was among the trade unions present at Sunday’s protest. They were joined by the National Education Union (NEU), the Communication Workers Union (CWU), Unison, Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union, and Unite.
Also in attendance were organizations and groups of health workers, including NHS Workers Say NO. “The Tories have cut NHS workers wages by about 30% on average. No shift is fully staffed. Patients are suffering. Staff are overworked and burnt out. That’s why we have no choice but to fight back!” the group said on X.
Meanwhile, junior doctors and consultants, organized by the British Medical Association, have embarked on a three-day joint strike action until October 4 to demand pay increases of 35%, citing a continuous decline in real wages over the past 15 years.
The People’s Assembly has raised demands for the nationalization of energy, water, mail and rail sectors and an end to the privatization of essential public services including the NHS.
Sunday’s protest was also supported by members of the Stop the War coalition, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Just Stop Oil, the Peace and Justice Project, and the Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) campaign group. Also in attendance was the Young Communist League, the youth wing of the Communist Party of Britain.
Protesters condemned Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to reverse climate pledges as well his plans to scrap construction of the northern part of the HS2 high speed railway from Birmingham to Manchester. Sunak reportedly presented plans to do so during the Tory conference.
The UK government, particularly Home Secretary Suella Braverman, has adopted an increasingly inhumane and hardline stance against refugees and migrants. Protesters, including the group Stand Up To Racism, marched on Sunday raising chants and slogans including “Refugees Welcome, Stop the Far Right!”
Demonstrators also carried a banner in support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been unjustly imprisoned at the Belmarsh prison since 2019 and is currently fighting his extradition to the US, where he is facing up to 175 years in prison on charges under the Espionage Act.
The annual Tory conference is being held as the UK is gearing up for general elections in 2024.
Addressing the protest on Sunday, PCS president Frances Heathcoe warned that while it was important to push the Tories out of power, “we also need to prepare unions and workers everywhere for a fight against the Labour Party.”
“It is going to be a government of neoliberal reaction from day one,” she added, as quoted by the Morning Star. “So the left has to prepare now. We don’t just want a change of government, we want an end to the attacks on our class.”
