On Saturday 12th February activists from North Staffs Green Party took part in a protest against the raising of the cap on energy prices.
The event took place outside
Hanley bus station and was organised by Staffordshire People's Assembly. Also
represented were local trades unions, and groups campaigning for asylum seekers
and disability rights.
The protest was part of
a national day of action with similar events taking place in twenty-five towns
across the county including London, Birmingham, and Manchester.
Speaking to the
Guardian on Saturday General Secretary of the People’s Assembly and former
Labour MP Laura Pidcock said there was ‘real anger’ over the rising cost of
living and the government’s failure to take effective action.
She added that “Working people could not be working
harder and yet life is getting so much more difficult,” and that as a result
“Older people will be cold in their homes, people will be struggling to feed
their children, when none of this is a crisis of their making”. [1]
Speaking at the protest
a representative of North Staffs Greens said that poverty was a 'contagion' in
our society, and that it had a devastating impact on people's physical and
mental health.
Zoe Nicholson, the
leader of Lewes District Council and Green Party spokesperson for the Green New
Deal said earlier this month of government support for people struggling to pay
their bills "At a time when
millions of people across the country are facing unprecedented rises in energy
prices, the government's solution fails to respond to the seriousness of either
the cost-of-living crisis or the climate crisis”.
She went on to say “Instead of a simple and effective payment
to everybody as we suggested, he has put forward a buy-now pay-later scheme
which will create an additional burden for those on the lowest incomes further
down the line”.
Adding that “At the same time he has done nothing to help
reduce bills and reduce carbon emissions by insulating people’s homes, and
instead opted to prop up the fossil fuel companies whose profits are
sky-rocketing at the expense of all of us as well as the environment [2]”.
The Green Party has put
forward a five-point plan for addressing the cost-of-living crisis.
They call for grants to
help people at risk of falling into fuel poverty insulate their homes, an
extension to winter fuel payments, more investment in renewable energy and for
the hike in National Insurance payments to be scrapped.
This would be paid for
through a windfall tax on energy companies including BP, who this week
announced profits exceeding £9.5billion.
Speaking at the protest
the Green Party representative said they stood in solidarity with 'children
having to go to school with holes in their shoes, parents going hungry so their
kids can eat and old people who have worked all their lives, and now can't heat
their homes'.
Speakers from other
groups also expressed concern about the impact of rising energy prices and
other pressures on household budgets.
Blythe Taylor, a member
of Stoke and Crewe Socialist Workers Party said it was an 'attack on the living
standards of working-class people'.
A representative of
Staffordshire Disabled People Against Cuts said combined with the difficulties
they face due to Universal Credit a rise in household heating costs risked
causing 'untold numbers of entirely avoidable deaths.
A speaker from Acorn, a
group campaigning on housing and other community issues urged people to follow
the example set by the Diggers, Chartists and Suffragettes by organising and
fighting back.
The People's Assembly
have announced dates for two further national protests, these will be held on
2nd March and 5th April.
A spokesperson for
North Staffs Green Party said the event in Hanley had 'shown the depth of
public concern around an issue that will have an impact on everyone'.
Adding that they party
would be 'working with local trades unions and the People's Assembly to make
the next two events bigger and better. Things do not have to be like this,
through partnership and organisation we can bring about change'.
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