Over 200 people marched through the rain in Walthamstow on Saturday, protesting against the proposed £65m cuts to council services over the next four years.
Sheila Gladston a wheelchair user from Walthamstow, was there protesting against a proposed £20,000 cut to the Shop Mobility scheme. “It will be gone in a few years if we don’t stop these cuts” she said. “The NHS is going back to where it used to be. They’ve already cut the wardens from the sheltered housing, the residents don’t feel safe.”
Whipps Cross Hospital UNISON Brach Secretary Len Hockey told a rally in the Town Square that “This is not Thatcherism revisited, this is a weak government which can be beaten”.
Local teacher and National Shop Stewards Network organiser Linda Taaffe was also confident of victory “I remember demos in Walthamstow against the Poll Tax. They said that there was nothing we could do to defeat the Iron Lady, yet we went on to greater things and won.”
She drew inspiration from events in the Middle East “it makes your heart sing. It took the Egyptians 18 days to get rid of a dictator. How long would it take to get rid of Cameron?”
Next, the Anti Cuts Union plans to demonstrate outside the Waltham Forest Council meeting on 8th March, which could agree up to 600 job losses, on top of the 230 already announced.
“Let councillors who stood to do good for society refuse to carry out the cuts.
“We will do whatever we have to do, to stop the vote taking place. If all councils refused to wield the axe, Cameron and Clegg would be faced with a massive problem," said Ms Taaffe.
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