By Peter Lazenby in Leeds, England:
Leeds unites to defeat the bedroom tax
Sunday 21 April 2013
Nearly 2,000 people took to the streets of Leeds on Saturday in a protest against the coalition government‘s vicious bedroom tax.
Young and old united with disabled people, community and trade union activists to voice not only opposition to the tax but resistance to it.
The protesters marched through the city centre displaying the banners and flags of Unite, Unison, PCS, along with those of community and tenants’ organisations.
“There were home-made placards, with some saying “Can’t Pay Won’t Pay” – reminiscent of the anti-poll tax campaign which led to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher.
The marchers gathered for a rally outside the city’s art gallery.
The rally was rounded off by outstanding speeches – not from politicians but from council house tenants, the ordinary people hit by the bedroom tax. Several said they had never taken part in a protest before, making their first brave and moving public speeches.
Liz Kitchen was one of them.
“Why should I be forced to move from my home?” she said.
“I’ve been a taxpayer for more than 40 years. Why can’t my grandchildren have a bed when they come to stay over at the weekend?
“Why should my daughter be homeless when she leaves university this summer? Why is it that working people are being forced out of their homes in one of the richest countries on Earth?”
She told the crowds: “We will stand up against this tax. We will fight and we will win!”
Wheelchair-user Jenny Salpherson, kept upright by a brace around her head, faces the prospect of eviction because she has a small room in which she keeps equipment which helps her move around her flat.
“I have a tiny, two-bedroom flat which has been specially adapted for me,” she said. “There is nowhere for me to go.”
Leeds City Council came under attack for failing to adopt a “no evictions” policy to protect the 8,000 social-housing tenants hit by the tax.
There were reports of resistance and anger growing in major towns and cities across Britain.
See also here.
Related articles
- British anti-bedroom tax demonstrations (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
- Activists tell Leeds to stop cash grab (morningstaronline.co.uk)
- Leeds plans to reclassify houses to help victims (morningstaronline.co.uk)
- ‘We won’t put up with this’: Residents facing brunt of ‘bedroom tax’ will refuse to pay (independent.co.uk)
- Britain unites to axe bedroom tax (morningstaronline.co.uk)
- Ten reasons to axe the bedroom tax (socialistworker.co.uk)
- Bedroom tax protests: Reports from across Britain (socialistworker.co.uk)
- Tommy Sheridan: I went to jail over the poll tax and I’m prepared to do the same over bedroom tax (dailyrecord.co.uk)
- Tommy Sheridan suggests second home tax for millionaire politicians as he joins bedroom tax protests (dailyrecord.co.uk)
- Bedroom tax scandal: Tories want to take our homes (socialistworker.co.uk)
The bedroom tax has nothing to do with the trivial amounts it might raise. It is part of the Orwellian strategy of equating welfare with scrounging, and of blaming the victims for this government’s destructive economic policy.
LikeLike
You are probably right.
LikeLike
Pingback: Scotland against bedroom tax | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: British bedroom tax kills a grandmother | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: British bedroom tax making people homeless | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: British anti-bedroom tax demonstrations this Saturday | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: British blind woman homeless by bedroom tax | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Sick man jailed because of British bedroom tax | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Disabled refugee woman’s victory | Dear Kitty. Some blog