Green Party members joined a demonstration in Stroud high Street on Wednesday lunchtime to protest against a budget that Green MP Caroline Lucas described as ‘cruel and counterproductive’ after the Chancellor announced deep cuts in welfare spending and failed to propose serious action on climate change.
Caroline Lucas added: “The welfare cuts announced today will plunge thousands of people in poverty, and cause families to be evicted from their homes. I’m deeply concerned that my own constituents are set to face needless hardship as this Government continues its economically illiterate and utterly unjust mission to hack away at our welfare state and public services. This Government’s ideological obsession with welfare cuts is gutting our social security system”.
Green District Councillor Simon Pickering said, “This is a highly cynical government already campaigning for the next election, by doing the bidding of the establishment to make sure they get the donations to the Tory party and playing on people’s fears rather improving the country for the common good.”
Green District Councillor Martin Whiteside added, “This budget gives tax cuts to the rich and benefit cuts to the very poor – there is not even a pretence that we are all in it together. Only 24.4% of the electorate voted for this government, there is no democratic mandate for extreme ideologically-driven policies that dismantle our welfare state and penalise the most vulnerable in our society.”
Photo courtesy of William Pinkney-Baird