West News Wire: On Saturday, tens of thousands of people marched through central London in protest of the UK’s rising living costs.
Huge crowds flocked to London for the rally, which demanded that the government do more to assist people whose bills and other expenses are rising faster than their wages.
Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, has been chastised for his slow response to the cost-of-living crisis. As a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine, energy and food staples such as wheat have become scarce in the United Kingdom and across Europe. Prior to the war, prices were already rising due to strong consumer demand following the global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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. In one example of the crunch for household finances, a data firm said the average cost of filling up a typical family car exceeding 100 pounds ($125).
