Cost of living protestors to gather in Southampton
The People's Assembly have organised 24 protests across the country, including one at the Guildhall
Last updated 12th Feb 2022
Protests against increases to the cost of living are taking place across the UK this weekend, including in Southampton.
They're being organised following the recent news that energy regulator Ofgem will be making a huge rise in the energy price cap by 54 per cent to £1,971 a year from this April.
Demonstrators are expected to gather around the Guildhall from around 1pm on Saturday (February 12th).
The organisers of the event, Southampton People's Assembly, posted the following statement on their social media websites:
"Since the Tory government came to power 12 years ago, we've seen our essential public services cut to the bone, rising inequality, skyrocketing housing costs and we've seen years of wage stagnation. This means that wages have not kept up with inflation.
"Despite this, the Bank of England boss, Andrew Bailey, is advising wage restraint. Unite General Secretary, Sharon Graham, has strongly hit back at this saying that workers didn’t cause inflation or the energy crisis so why should they pay for it? She goes on to say,
“Yet again workers are being asked to pay the price, this time for inflation and the energy crisis. Inflation has not been caused by workers. Why should they be expected to pay for the failures of the energy market and the total shambles of Government policy?
“Workers don’t need lectures from the Governor of the Bank of England on exercising pay restraint. Why is it that every time there is a crisis, rich men ask ordinary people to pay for it?
“Enough is enough, we will be demanding that employers who can pay, do pay. Let's be clear, pay restraint is nothing more than a call for a national pay cut.”
Elsewhere, protests are being organised in cities like London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Brighton, Cardiff, Glasgow, Lancaster, Liverpool, Birmingham and Eastbourne.
Lucette Davies, a People's Assembly member, said:
"People are really scared, people don't know how they're going to manage. I think they're angry as well because I and many others know that this is avoidable.
"When ordinary people have less money, they can't spend it so every business suffers. Everything we buy will go up in price as well because businesses have to pay these hikes in energy prices. Everything is going to become more expensive.
"We've used the phrases 'heating or eating' and we've had foodbanks for a long time now. It's almost like a myth to say we're an advanced, developed country when we're doing the sorts of things that we are doing."
The Government has announced a support package to help people deal with the cost of living.