On October 20, thousands of students and workers marched on Downing Street in London to protest against the savage cuts in social spending announced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, Counterfire.org reported that day.
The protest was organised by the Coalition of Resistance, Camden Trades Council and the People鈥檚 Charter.
The cuts in public spending announced by British chancellor George Osborne that day amount to 81 billion pounds.
It follows a government bailout of banks that the Bank of England (BoE) estimated totalled 1.3 trillion pounds, an October 21 Counterfire.org article by James Meadway said.
The October 20 Morning Star said: 鈥淧rotesters could be heard for miles, chanting: 鈥榁ive la France鈥, in solidarity with striking French workers who are opposing the EU-wide austerity cuts.鈥
The Morning Star said National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport general secretary Bob Crow and his National Union of Journalist counterpart Jeremy Dear criticised Britain鈥檚 Trade Union Congress for failing to organise the protest.
Both urged trade unions to co-ordinate industrial action to oppose the cutbacks.
Crow said the cuts were similar to 鈥渟omebody stealing your credit card, running up a huge bill and then asking you to pay for it鈥.
Black Activists Against the Cuts spokesperson Zita Holbourne pointed out the cuts would have a disproportionate effect on black people in Britain, the Morning Star said.
鈥淭hese cuts will have huge impact on black women and will drive more of us into poverty鈥, said Holbourne.
Four people were arrested after protesters broke into the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Morning Star said.
Other protests took place across Britain the same day, with marches in Newcastle, Sheffield, Barnsley, Cambridge, Luton, Southampton and Bolton, an October 21 Morning Star article said.
鈥淧ublic-sector unions also protested in Cardiff, while students at Glasgow and Edinburgh universities in Scotland also held demonstrations鈥, the article said.
鈥淚n Doncaster a march was led by a coffin and hearse to symbolise the death of public services.鈥
More national protests were planned for October 23.
The Morning Star said, in an attempt by the government to convince the public it was spreading the costs of cuts driven by the huge bank bailout, banks would be hit with a levy of 0.01%.
This is expected to generate 2.5 billion pounds a year, barely a seventh of the 18 billion pounds being directly cut from the welfare budget, the article said.
The Morning Star said bonuses to bank executives were predicted to exceed 7 billion pounds this year.
Unite union joint general secretary Tony Woodley, who has announced a national campaign against the cuts, said that the levy was 鈥渁nother slap in the face for working people, who will pay most heavily in the cuts鈥.
Woodley said the real figure of the total cuts was a 鈥渃olossal鈥 145 billion pounds, the Morning Star reported..
Meadway detailed the cuts in his Counterfire.org article: 鈥淲elfare payments are being slashed by an extra 拢7bn. Housing benefit is being chopped.
鈥淪ocial house-building will slow to a virtual standstill, and exorbitant 鈥榤arket rents鈥 charged to tenants.
鈥淐ouncil Tax benefit will be cut 10 per cent. A family depending on benefits will lose an average of 拢1,000 a year.1.5m children will miss out on child benefits 鈥
鈥淭he Education Maintenance Allowance, 拢30 a week paid to the poorest 16 year olds to help with the costs of attending college, has been axed.
鈥淭he university system will be hammered by 拢4.3bn cuts, backed up by the introduction of unlimited fees.
鈥淟ocal councils will see their budgets fall over 7 per cent every year, for four years. Local authority care for the impoverished elderly is facing 30 per cent cuts.
鈥淭he replacement of Incapacity Benefit, the Employment and Support Allowance, will only be paid for a year. Disability Living Allowance will be cut for those in care.
鈥淲omen will suffer disproportionately. A House of Commons audit of June鈥檚 emergency budget found 70 per cent of the cuts would be borne by women. Over the next ten years, men鈥檚 retirement age will rise one year 鈥 women鈥檚 by six years.鈥
Even pro-capitalist economists have warned such extreme cuts could drive Britain into a deep recession. Professor David Blanchflower described the cuts as the 鈥済reatest error seen in our lifetime鈥, the Morning Star said.
Blanchflower, a highly respected economist holding posts at the Stirling, Bonn, Munich and Dartmouth universities and who was awarded a CBE last year for his services to the BoE, said: 鈥淭here鈥檚 no example in history where such a thing as this has ever worked. It generates double dip recession.鈥
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stigltz said in an October 19 Guardian opinion piece that the severe austerity measures were a high-risk economic gamble unlikely to pay off.
鈥淎usterity鈥, Stigltz said, 鈥渃onverts downturns into recessions, recessions into depressions鈥.