IT’S been a long time since we were together on our streets. There’s nothing quite like being able to stand together, in person, in solidarity. 

And there’s certainly plenty for us to protest about. From growing unemployment and disgraceful “fire and rehire” of working people, to the looming cut to universal credit, growing inequalities, institutionalised racism and the growth of the far right, for peace in an increasingly dangerous world or to fight the insulting 1 per cent pay offer to our NHS and public service heroes and the threat to the right to protest itself from the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
 
Whatever you’re campaigning for, demanding action on or simply angry about, join the People’s Assembly on London’s streets today to demand a new normal and the removal of a government not fit to govern.

As we emerge from Covid, there must be no going back to business as usual. No going back to the failed austerity policies of the past — the low-paid insecure jobs, homelessness, food and clothing banks, the privatisation and contracting out of our NHS and our public services, on their knees through the crisis but held together by the courageous workers on the front line who kept our loved ones cared for and our communities moving, and who far too often lost their own lives to this terrible disease. 

They showed, as ever, that it’s the solidarity of our class that holds our society together, not the grasping cronyism of the Tory class. 
But now the Son of Austerity is coming back for more. Chancellor Rishi Sunak appears determined to claw back some of the billions he’s been forced, by your actions, your protest and campaigns alongside us, the trade unions, to shell out over the past 17 months to protect jobs and businesses, support the low paid and unemployed. 

A 17 months that arguably could have been shortened if it weren’t for his government’s repeated failures, dither and delay, including the refusal by ministers to act on repeated warnings by their scientific advisers that the desperate inadequacy of sick pay — a pitiful £96 a week for those who qualify but nothing for the two million paid so little they don’t earn enough to get even that — was causing the virus to spread since people could not afford to self-isolate.

That the Treasury held back the right of employers to temporarily furlough workers required to quarantine was disgraceful and a deliberate decision that will undoubtedly have cost lives, led to increased infections and meant that successive lockdowns have lasted longer than necessary, further damaging the economy, jobs and livelihoods.

The failure to support the low paid and vulnerable to isolate has been an act of gross negligence. 

The government failed Britain’s workers and our economy because they chose to side with their ideological hatred of the social security that we all pay into and not with the working people of this country.

The cancellation of the so-called summit on social care this week was an ominous sign that Sunak is not interested in finding the cash the sector desperately needs. 

No doubt he will also use the lifting of remaining Covid restrictions on July 19 as a reason not to step back from pushing more of the cost of furlough onto struggling employers or to extend furlough for the aviation, hospitality and other sectors in urgent need of ongoing support if we’re to avoid the millions currently on furlough becoming unemployment statistics in September when the scheme ends. 

We won’t let that happen, and I’m already back in talks with the Treasury team, pressing home the point that the Chancellor must accept the reality that Britain’s workers need nothing less than the support given by our competitor nations.

We’re also gearing up for empowering our Unite Community and industrial branches to build local coalitions to campaign against the universal credit £20 cut throughout this summer, taking the campaign directly to Tories in their constituencies where thousands of families are struggling to put food on the table and keep roofs over their heads.

It’s not often I find myself in agreement with a Tory, but there was little to argue with in Ken Clarke’s dismissal of the £200 million to be splurged on the royal yacht as “populist nonsense.”  

But in the context of offering a real-terms pay cut to NHS staff and snatching back £1,040 a year from universal credit claimants, a lifeline that has enabled them to feed their kids, heat their homes, buy school uniforms, replace broken washing machines and install vital broadband, it’s more than nonsense, it’s inhumane and an absolute disgrace. 

For so many reasons the Tories really are not fit to govern!

So, whatever motivates you: from housing to jobs, our NHS to educating our kids, ending austerity to killing the policing Bill, climate change to human, civil and trade union rights — get on the streets today and join me and tens of thousands of protesters to demand the new normal that we need if we’re to shape a society that leaves no-one behind.

Steve Turner is assistant general secretary of Unite and chair of the People’s Assembly. The national demonstration takes place today, June 26 – assemble 12 noon at Portland Place, London W1A for a march to Parliament Square. For more information visit thepeoplesassembly.org.uk.