2010 Student protests in November and December 2010, focused on cuts and changes to the funding of higher and further education in England. A previous student protest also saw some "violence" when students targeted the automobile in which
Charles, Prince of Wales and his wife
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall were riding.
Claire Darke MBE resigned from the Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition on
Wolverhampton City Council in protest against the government's austerity measures, which she described as "ideologically driven" and harmful to local services. Her departure led to the Wolverhampton Labour Group taking control of the council with a slim majority, marking the first time a local coalition failed following the formation of the national Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.
2011 January–February On 29 January, the NCAFC (National Campaign Against Cuts & Fees) held a small protest in London. Some minor violence was reported. In Manchester there was a protest of around 5000 people called by the TUC, UCU and the NUS against fees and cuts, billed as "a future that works" rally. On 1 February, a disused building at the
University of Glasgow, Scotland was occupied and re-opened as the
Free Hetherington anti-cuts space. It has since attracted much controversy due to heavy-handed attempts to evict the students, staff and community members from the building, which resulted in multiple injuries and arrests. On 12 February, council workers in
Darlington, including members of the unions
UNISON and
GMB, staged a We Love Darlington protest against council cuts in the North-East town. On 24 February a Hull City Council meeting was interrupted by protests. On the previous evening, a Sheffield City Council meeting was invaded by protesters over proposed cuts to local children's centres.
March on 26 March 2011. On 3 March, the
GMB and
UK Uncut held a protest on
Knightsbridge against tax evasion. A protest was also held on the same day by UK Uncut outside the
Barclays bank in Victoria Square,
Bolton, opposite Bolton Town Hall. The protest was against tax evasion. On 5 March, there was a protest of around 2,000 people in Manchester about cuts being implemented on the city. UK Uncut held protests in
Perth,
Manchester,
Liverpool,
Leicester,
Ipswich,
Edinburgh,
Colchester,
Bristol, and
Aberdeen. Protests in Perth were against the
Scottish Liberal Democrats and tax evasion; protests in
Manchester,
Ipswich, and
Aberdeen were anti-austerity in general; protests in Liverpool were against the
Big Society; protests in
Leicester and
Colchester were against tax evasion and big bonuses for bankers; protests in Edinburgh were against the closure (by the government) of two nursery schools in the city, and tax evasion; and protests in
Bristol were against the closure of a library in the city. On 6 March, UK Uncut arranged to hold a protest in
Taunton against government cuts. UK Uncut held protests in the
London Borough of Tower Hamlets on 7 March, mainly around the
Barclay's Bank headquarters in
Canary Wharf. During the protest, a group of around a dozen people gathered in front of a sculpture in the bank lobby, and chanted, "Barclays Bank pays no tax, Tower Hamlets gets the axe," and, "Barclays, pay your tax." According to protest organiser UK Uncut, "Around twenty people, all living or working in Tower Hamlets, occupied the foyer of Barclays HQ while startled bankers were directed out a side entrance." UK Uncut held a protest on 9 March, at a budget cuts council meeting in the
London Borough of Bexley. During the emotionally charged and noisy meeting, there were shouts of "shame" and "cutting respite care is not right" from the residents in the gallery numbering about 165, and protesters at the back doors chanted "care, not cuts" as councillors entered. Police were brought in to guard the civic offices and residents had their bags searched; those with cameras were banned from entering. On 12 March, around 5,000 people marched from
Devonshire Green to the venue of the 2011 Liberal Democrats spring conference, where one man was arrested for public order offences and discharge of a firework in a public place. Barricades were set up on
Fargate and Surrey Street following several incidents, including a group of protesters running into a
Topshop store on Fargate. The event has been "good-natured on the whole", police said. A large group of protesters, separate from the main group, caused violence along the march, including trying (and failing) to set fire to a police car. Much smaller protests were held by UK Uncut in
Ipswich and
Poole, with five protesters attending the latter. Protesters also occurred in
Barker's Pool,
Sheffield, on the
Day of Rage (12 March). UK Uncut arranged to hold anti-cuts protests in
Basildon on 14 March. On 22 March, Around 4,000 people from universities and colleges across
Scotland marched down the
Royal Mile to the
Scottish Parliament and staged a rally against introduction of tuition fees and cuts to education. Politicians, student leaders and trade union representatives, including Education Secretary Mike Russell, Labour Party's Des McNulty and Margaret Smith, of the Liberal Democrats addressed the protesters at the rally. On the same day the University of Glasgow management evicted the
Free Hetherington occupation. The occupation then moved to the University Senate, before the occupiers were eventually offered their original location back, this offer was accepted. On 26 March 250,000 people attended
a protest in central London. Further outbreaks of violence were reported in London on 27 March. Several hundred people protested in Barker's Pool, Sheffield; the branch of John Lewis was damaged by rioters throwing smoke bombs and rocks. The police arrested 201 people in connection with civil disobedience. According to
The Daily Telegraph, the movement represented "the biggest public backlash against the Government's spending cuts since it came to power." On 30 June, a one-day strike, officially called "J30", was held by public sector workers to protest the government's planned unconventional changes to pension plans and retirement policies, including raising the retirement age from 60 to 66 and the replacing of final salary pension schemes with a career-average system. The
Driving Standards Agency had recently announced that it was to launch a localised trial to determine whether delivering examiners from
non-established test centres could help with growing pupil demand, starting in
Warrington,
Wiltshire,
Ayrshire,
Wales and
Dumbarton. In the one-day strike, pickets and a series of anti-cuts rallies by the National Union of Teachers (NUT), Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), University and College Union (UCU) and the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) went ahead largely as planned. Over 11,000 schools in
England were affected by the strike, according to the data released by the Department for Education (DfE). Nearly 400 schools were closed in greater
Birmingham and the
Black Country, with another 70 partially shut. According to union reports, across the rest of England, 3,200 schools were shut and 2,200 were partially closed, out of about 22,000 state-funded schools. Only 18 out of 750
Jobcentre Plus offices in the country were closed due to the lack of strike activity by their staff, while 90% of the civilian call centre staff at the Metropolitan Police did strike. The Coastguard also reported some minor walkouts. The event was officially called the "J30" The PCS chose to have a month-long overtime ban instead The pension cuts and reforms were, like the planned budget cuts in the
NHS and Education budget, the main causes of the union's simmering malcontent with the
government of that time. The UNISON union warned of further
strike action in
Birmingham.
August–December An additional one-day strike took place across the country on 30 November. The strike was organised by various unions with the
Trades Union Congress calling it the biggest strike in a generation. Nearly two-thirds of England's 21,476 schools were closed, all but 33 of Scotland's 2,700 states schools were closed and 7,000 operations in hospitals were cancelled. Twenty-one arrests were made, as
Occupy London activists marched from Piccadilly Circus to Panton House, the headquarters of international mining company
Xstrata, where the highest paid CEO in the
United Kingdom works. The activists entered the building with a large banner saying "All power to the 99%" and subsequently entered onto the rooftop and strapped the banner to the front of the building. Videos of the violent arrests were posted on social-video site
YouTube, including a video showing an undercover police officer, tasked with infiltrating the
Occupy London march. A total of 75 activist-related arrests were logged in the capital that day.
2012–2015 On 20 October 2012 the
Trades Union Congress had organised simultaneous marches in
Belfast,
London and
Glasgow. Though the TUC gave an estimate of 150,000 people turning up to the London event, official police figures have not been confirmed. Labour leader
Ed Miliband spoke at the event, and gained controversial responses from the crowd when advocating that austerity was necessary, but the Conservative scale was aggressive. In 2013 the
People's Assembly Against Austerity was launched to "push the arguments against
austerity" it sees as missing from British politics and to fight for the people it sees as being disadvantaged by Government policies. It published its own manifesto
The People's Charter, which received support from political parties and trade unions in the UK. The initiative was backed by trade unions as well as campaigning groups, individuals and political parties. On 22 June 2013, over 4,000 people attended a conference at
Westminster Central Hall in London. This followed meetings and rallies across the country. Local activist groups subsequently formed and held meetings across the UK. In Scotland, there were two major demonstrations on 30 March 2013 against the changes to welfare resulting from the
Welfare Reform Act 2012. Around 3,000 demonstrators took to the streets of
Glasgow and around 1,000 demonstrators assembled outside of the
Scottish Parliament in
Edinburgh Participants in the protests include the
Scottish Socialist Party and the
Radical Independence Campaign. There were
Yes Scotland and
Scottish Green Party banners present at both events. Some parliamentarians from the
Scottish National Party and the
Scottish Labour Party issued statements of support. The demonstrators saw Thatcher as one of the instigators of austerity economics and were protesting her political career, along with protesting the cost of the funeral to
taxpayers when funding for public services were being cut. The People's Assembly organized a demonstration which took place on 21 June 2014, marching from outside the
BBC Trust's Portland Place offices to
Parliament Square, with speeches from comedians and political commentators
Russell Brand and
Mark Steel. Sources confirmed the march to have 50,000 demonstrators. As well as putting on national events, the majority of work is carried out by the local People's Assemblies, that were either founded after the founding People's Assembly, or incorporate pre-existing local anti-cuts groups. On 9 May 2015, after the Conservative party achieved a majority government in the
2015 general election, an impromptu anti-austerity protest was staged. Four police officers and a member of police staff were injured and five protesters were arrested. A minor protest in Bristol of 1,000 demonstrator on 13 May 2015—six days after the election result—protested the £12bn of welfare cuts planned to be enacted by 2018.
The People's Assembly Against Austerity and
Scotland United Against Austerity organised demonstrations across the UK a year later on 20 June in Bristol, London, Liverpool and Glasgow. Several guest speakers including high-profile political activists such as Russell Brand,
Charlotte Church,
Richard Coyle and
Julie Hesmondhalgh, the People's Assembly's leader Sam Fairbairn, trade union leaders and politicians
Diane Abbott Jeremy Corbyn,
Caroline Lucas and
Martin McGuinness attended the London crowd which walked from the
Bank of England and
Parliament Square. and 350 demonstrators in Liverpool. The People's Assembly's organised a further demonstration in London on 8 July the same year with an additional 40 side protests, featuring guest speakers such as
Owen Jones and
RMT union leader
Mick Cash at the London demonstration and strikers from
Barnet Council,
Bromley Council,
the National Gallery and the
London Underground participating. As well as 60,000 strong protest at the 2015 Conservative party conference in Manchester on 5 October.
2016–2018 On 16 April 2016, the National People's Assembly led a further national demonstration labelled the "March for Health, Homes, Jobs, Education", or the '#4Demands' march. On 4 March 2017, 250,000 marched in London. More than 100,000 people attended the "Not One Day More" protest in London on 1 July. Aside from being an Anti-austerity rally, both the renewal of Theresa May's premiership – three weeks after she secured
a minority government in the
snap election – and the
Grenfell Tower fire featured highly on picket signs. Labour Party politicians including
Jeremy Corbyn,
John McDonnell and
Diane Abbott,
Unite union general secretary
Len McCluskey and journalist Owen Jones spoke at the event, with political musicians
Shy FX,
Wolf Alice and
Sam Duckworth performing on the stage. A minute of silence for the victims of Grenfell Tower and a minute of applause for the emergency services were held during the protest. The Bristol branch of the People's Assembly Against Austerity organised an anti-austerity march 9 September 2017 ending at
College Green. The demonstration was called to protest the £104 million of cuts to the
Bristol City Council budget between 2017 and 2021 which will hurt Social and Children's services, social care and libraries. Over thirty local and regional organisations (Including Bristol's Labour and Green parties; People's Assembly and regional trade union offices) supported the march and promoted the event through word of mouth and, however a large array of street art advertising the event appeared around the city in the weeks leading up to the march, described as being "promoted in a typically Bristol fashion". Incumbent
mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees supported the march in the wish to use the turnout as political mandate to his handing over of the
Core Cities Group green paper on greater funding for the largest cities in the United Kingdom. though official figures of the turnout have never been confirmed. The following month a march took place at Belfast City Hall. It was initially advocated by
People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll and Labour peer
Baroness Blood The march coincided with the start of the 2017
Conservative Party Conference held in Manchester 1 October and- inline with the arguments of the Bristol demonstration- directly protests against the £70 million to be subtracted from the
Belfast City Council's budget by 2021. On Sunday 1 October, the first day of the conference, two marches were held in Manchester, an Anti-austerity march and a march opposing exiting the European Union. With anticipation of up to 50,000 attendees by the People's Assembly and 30,000 by police estimates. No arrests were made. On 3 February 2018 the 'Fix It Now' march took place in London. Organised by the national healthcare group 'Health Campaigns Together' and 'the People's Assembly'—with vocal support from Jeremy Corbyn—and focused entirely on greater funding for the NHS- demonstrators marched from
Gower Street to
Downing Street.
Isle of Wight,
Macclesfield,
Margate and
Southampton. Protesters were attracted by both the high-profile sell-offs of assets to private companies, notably
Virgin Care and the financial pressure that has led to 100,000 unfilled job vacancies in the service and the recent crisis in the system over the winter. On 18 February a small protest in
Chelmsford,
Essex, happened in response to the merging of three local hospitals into a single trust, which protestors feared would impact on service, and general underfunding of the healthcare sector. On 28 September 2,000 headteachers and school leaders from across England, Wales and Northern Ireland protests outside
10 Downing Street because of the austerity cuts in schools. The protest was organised by
WorthLess?, who focus on reduction in the education budget.
2019–2023 In January 2019 there was a struggle during a series of protests across London for anti-austerity protesters to "reclaim" the imagery of the Yellow Vests used by the populist, anti-austerity movement in France called
gilets jaunes from pro-Brexit activists associated with the far-right. Many protestors part of the event see synergy between their own anti-austerity demands and the gilets jaunes protests. However figures like journalist
Mike Stuchbery who focuses on the
far-right's rise in Britain believed it was too late. There were far-right, pro-Brexit protestors present at rallies at the same time, however they were far smaller. In September several left-wing Labour MPs under the banner "Labour Assembly Against Austerity" provided an alternative economic plan for post-COVID-19 recovery, this was co-signed by over 9,000 Labour Members. On 17 October 2020, the People's Assembly plans nationwide demonstrations in protest of the government's handling of coronavirus and what the PAAA believe will be another wave of austerity.
2024 general election The label "austerity" was used by various parties to criticise political opponents during campaigning for the
2024 election, particularly against the Conservatives. Additionally, nationalist parties used the label to target
Keir Starmer's plans for a Labour government. Labour won the election in a landslide, though did not pledge to reverse austerity. While the Conservatives were defeated and their
plans for further austerity measures were largely not enacted, some later opposition to the policies of the
Starmer ministry was termed anti-austerity. In September 2024,
Jeremy Corbyn formed the
Independent Alliance parliamentary faction in opposition to austerity. The group had five MPs at its formation. ==Responses==