Business

Big Crowds Take to London Streets to Protest Soaring Costs

LONDON — Thousands of people marched through central London on Saturday in a protest over the soaring cost of living in Britain.

Huge numbers poured into London’s capital to protest rising costs and demand more from the government.

Boris Johnson, Prime Minister has been accused of being too slow in responding to the rising cost-of-living crisis. Inflation in Britain and across Europe has been surging, as Russia’s war in Ukraine crimped supplies of energy and food staples like wheat. As a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, prices rose before the war.

Demonstrators carried banners with messages such as “Cut war not welfare.” They booed when they passed by 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s residence, according to videos posted on social media.

Ben Robinson, who works for a housing charity in south London’s Brixton neighborhood, said the government doesn’t realize how bad things are going to be for the poor.

“We’ve got residents who are coming into our offices who are choosing between feeding their own kids, not themselves, their own kids, and paying rent and heating,” he said. “That is just not a choice that anyone should have to face, you know, in the fourth biggest economy in the world.”

The TUC, an umbrella organization for labor unions that organized the protest, said its research suggests workers have effectively lost a total of almost 20,000 pounds ($24,450) since 2008 because pay hasn’t kept pace with inflation.

Johnson’s government is facing heavy pressure to do more to help Britons struggling with soaring fuel and food prices and domestic energy bills. One example of how tight household finances are, according to a data firm, the cost of filling up an average family car with fuel is over 100 Pounds ($125).

Here are more must-read stories from TIME


Get in touchAt letters@time.com

Tags

Related Articles

Back to top button