North Staffs Green Party has given its support to a rally being held in Stoke-on-Trent to demand action on the rising cost of living.
The rally will take place at the GMB office on Garth Street in Hanley and is aimed at building support for a national day of action taking place in London on Saturday 18th June.Speakers for the event include union leaders Mark Serwotka (PCS), Dr Patrick Roache (NASUWT) and Mary Bousted (NEU).
A spokesperson for North Staffs Green Party said “the situation for people struggling to get by is becoming intolerable as inflation, along with food and energy costs continue to rise”.
The Trades Union Council (TUC), who are sponsoring the event have called on the government to act now as inflation reached its highest level since 1982 with further rises predicted.
Kate Bell of the TUC told the BBC that just as happened during the pandemic “when the economy is in trouble or when we're facing an emergency, we do need to protect people”, adding that doing so was the best way to protect the economy.
The TUC have called on the government to bring forward a planned uplift to benefits due come into effect in April next year and dismissed claims that IT issues have prevented this from happening.
Kate Bell said, “when people hear the government saying, 'the computer says no', I think they are pretty clear that is an excuse, we can act if we want to”.
The Green Party has consistently spoken out against the government’s handling of the cost-of-living crisis. In March co-leader Adrian Ramsey called for a windfall tax on the profits of energy companies saying: “While people are bearing the brunt of spiralling energy costs, oil and gas companies are raking in unprecedented profits. We need an immediate tax on those companies’ dirty profits to raise money to provide immediate financial support”.
Ahead of the Queen’s Speech, Carla Denya called for the government to invest in insulating the UK’s draughty homes to cut energy bills and address climate change, something they had not done because they were “distracted by scandal after scandal” and had failed “to get a grip on the twin crises of the rising cost of living and the climate emergency”.
The spokesperson for North Staffs Greens said, “we fully support the TUC in demanding the government take action to alleviate the suffering of households that cannot make ends meet despite being in work”.
The rally will take place at the GMB offices, Hillcrest House, Garth Street Hanley, ST1 2AB at 6pm on Tuesday 7th June.
Details and booking information is available here.