PROTESTERS staged a demonstration inside the Department for Work and Pensions building in Westminster on Sunday to highlight the opposition to controversial welfare reforms.
Dozens of activists stormed into the building shouting slogans and saying they were going to occupy the offices.
The protesters, who were dressed as “bankers,” described the government’s planned legislation as the “welfare abolition Bill” and claimed the measures would virtually abolish welfare for single parents and disabled people.
A number of unions and Labour MPs are opposed to the Bill, which is due to be debated in Parliament next week.
One of the protesters, Anne-Marie O’Reilly from Feminist Fightback and London Coalition Against Poverty, said: “Everyone knows that the government’s welfare Bill was designed by ex-banker David Freud.
“Even if it weren’t for the banks’ track records, the fact that he has recently defected to the Tories should make it clear this Bill needs to be thrown out.
“They will throw us out of the building today, but we think it’s time they really throw the bankers and their interests out of Whitehall and stop penalising poor people, disabled people and single mothers.”
Another activist, Alice Robson, said: “The government is bailing out the banks and giving them bonuses whilst cutting welfare benefits for the poor.
“This Bill does not make sense. The government should be targeting the rich not the poor to pay for their crisis.”
Copyright Morning Star