We Demand Change North Staffs and South Cheshire organised a demonstration outside Connor Naismith MP’s office in Crewe on Saturday 10 May calling for Welfare not Warfare

The demo was supported by Crewe and District Trades Council, East Cheshire People’s Assembly Against Austerity, NorSCARF, a local branch of the National Education Union, NHS Workers Say No, North Staffordshire Disabled People Against Cuts, and SCANS Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Activists present made a series of demands including no to austerity 2.0, tax the rich, save our schools, and stop arming Israel.

Sam Colclough, convenor of the East Cheshire People’s Assembly said,

“Everyone knows how damaging austerity was the last time it was inflicted on our communities. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, the public sector was decimated, and UK life expectancy reduced by almost half a year. This government is trying to deliver austerity 2.0 with its means testing of winter fuel allowance and cuts to disability benefits just the beginning. We will fight this every step of the way.

“Our MP Connor Naismith belongs to the party doing this to his community and he needs to stand against this programme of cuts and stand up for the people of Crewe. At the moment, he’s betraying those who voted for him last year, as well as those who didn’t.”

Nina Hammill, secretary of Crewe and District Trades Council added,

“We’re fed up with greed, lies and poverty. The government tells us there’s no money. That’s a lie. They never have any trouble finding plenty of money for wars, including Genocide in Gaza, and they tell racist lies, blaming migrants for public service cuts while they line their pockets. Migrants are not responsible for cuts in services, in fact they help keep our services running.

“The combined wealth of the richest people in Britain stands at nearly £800 billion while working class people struggle to make ends meet. We stand in solidarity with our siblings against the attacks on trans rights. We elected our MP to listen to us and represent us but he is letting us down. Labour need to start taxing the rich instead of giving them tax breaks at our expense.”

Next, the group will be building for the People’s Assembly’s Welfare not Warfare national demonstration in London on 7 June. If you’d like to get involved, you can contact them at [email protected]

We Demand Change North Staffs and South Cheshire press release