Protesters across UK demonstrate against spiralling cost of living

theguardian.com:

Protesters demonstrated in dozens of towns and cities across the UK on Saturday to highlight how the spiralling cost of living crisis is affecting the public.

The demonstrations, co-organised by anti-austerity organisation People’s Assembly and supported by trade unions, were held in at least 25 towns and cities, from London to Glasgow to Bangor.

The protests come as UK inflation jumped to 5.4% in December, the highest rate in almost 30 years. The Bank of England warned CPI will hit 6% by April, with governor Andrew Bailey coming under fire for suggesting workers should not ask for big pay rises to control it.

“Working people could not be working harder and yet life is getting so much more difficult,” said Laura Pidcock, national secretary of the People’s Assembly and a former Labour MP. She said there was “real anger” over the cost of living crisis and the government’s failure to act.

“Older people will be cold in their homes, people will be struggling to feed their children, when none of this is a crisis of their making,” Pidcock said.

The events follow fears rising living costs will be experienced by the UK’s poorest the hardest. The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has come under pressure to rethink April’s national insurance (NI) rise, after a thinktank warned UK households classed “destitute” could climb by almost a third – to more than 1 million – this spring.

Placards in Parliament Square in London read “tax the