People's Assembly National Demonstration
Activists from across the country and from different sectors told Counterfire why they are coming on the People’s Assembly demonstration against Labour’s austerity
Andrew Meyerson, A&E doctor
It’s so important for all those who support and value the NHS to join the march against Austerity 2.0 on 7 June here in London because our patients and our communities cannot afford any more cuts to our health service.
Austerity 1.0 brought the NHS to its knees and was implicated in the deaths of over one million working people. The Tories stole £400bn from NHS budgets and intentionally undermined every aspect of patient care in order to drive patients into the arms of private healthcare. GP waiting times, A&E waiting times, cancer-care waiting times, elective surgery waiting times, are all now among the worst in NHS history. That is the Tory legacy.
Until and unless we restore that stolen funding and start investing in our hospital infrastructure, our staff, our hospital beds, and our social care, then working people in this country will never again see a vibrant and successful health service.
That is why I feel it is a patriotic duty to fight against Austerity 2.0 with everything we’ve got, because the lives of another million working people are quite literally on the line.
Rob, NEU activist
We’re building for the 7 June and sending a coach down for several reasons. Firstly because the industrial disputes in the public sector are shaped primarily by austerity. Without extra funding from central government, attacks on workers’ wages like those we’ve seen on the bin workers in Birmingham will continue, as austerity logic will conclude that attacking the trade unions will be the most efficient way to drive public-sector costs down.
Secondly, especially after Starmer’s cheesestick Churchill impersonation on Monday, our society is being shunted along the path to war mobilisation. This means more cuts to hospitals, schools, and the welfare budget in the name of unifying the country around sending young people to die in needless wars, as if condemning millions to waste their talent and potential in an Amazon warehouse or in the gig economy wasn’t enough.
Thirdly, this government seems to be hellbent on making Reform succeed it. By insisting there is no alternative to eating up what’s left of public services and supporting a genocide in Palestine, as well as being the most racist Labour government in our lifetimes, people are going to look for an alternative. We have to be that alternative; we have to take the streets against this disaster of a government and announce there is a better way we can all take part in and shape our society.
Lucy, NHS activist
The NHS is in a moment of extreme crisis, after a decade and a half of cuts and privatisation by successive governments. The waiting list for treatments stands at about seven million, there is a significant staffing crisis, and 16,600 people are dying avoidable deaths each year as a result of delays in emergency care. This is not to mention the rampant health inequalities in the UK, or the crisis in social care.
Labour has continued the work of the Tories before them, instead of doing what they promised in their manifesto and alleviating this pressure on the NHS. Wes Streeting is undermining vital services by allowing even more backdoor privatisation to take place. The recent pay rise for doctors and nurses is unfunded, meaning NHS trusts will have to choose between paying staff and continuing to offer important services.
The NHS is in an increasingly desperate situation. Working people are unable to access vital healthcare and in the worst cases are dying as a result. I know that the NHS is in this state because of ideological choices to undermine and dismantle it, which is now the case from a Labour government as it was the Tories before. As a socialist, I want good healthcare, free at the point of need and publicly provided and accountable, for all. I am marching this Saturday because I know that this is entirely possible if we fight for it, together.
Will, architecture educator
I am marching this Saturday against yet another round of austerity. After all those years of horrible policies under the Tories, we’re getting more of the same from Keir Starmer and company. This ‘fiscal-rules’ nonsense is a smokescreen. Austerity has always been about transferring resources and wealth from poor and working people to the rich, and this time is no different. Rather than raising taxes on the wealthy, they aim cuts directly at the poor. And they justify this in the name of increased military spending, sending those resources over to some of the worst corporations on earth to be used in the destruction of people and the polluting of our planet. It’s time to end this nightmare. Neoliberal policies have lost credibility all over the world but they’ll keep repeating them until we stop them. We need to get out there on the street.
Suad, anti-war activist
On 7 June, we march not just against austerity, but for a future rooted in justice — care, not cuts. When Keir Starmer pledges to expand military spending, echoing Israel’s justification of ‘security’ to excuse violence and repression, we must call it what it is: the same old lie used to fund war while communities starve. ‘Welfare, not warfare’ is not just a slogan — it’s a demand. Austerity at home and occupation abroad are built on the same foundations: the devaluation of human life. Our struggle is connected — from the NHS to Gaza, we march for justice.
