By IRNA,
London : The British government Tuesday faced protests in a series of demonstrations opposed to public spending cuts announced in an emergency budget to tackle the country’s record deficit.
Peace protesters, led by Stop the War Coalition (STWC) and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), were calling for British troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan and scrapping plans to replace the UK’s Trident nuclear missile system to save money.
“The news of the 300th British soldier dying should lead to an immediate change of policy on Afghanistan and a decision to withdraw the troops and to end a war which has already cost tens of thousands of lives and billions of pounds,” said STWC convenor Lindsay Gorman.
“The war is growing more unpopular both in Britain and Afghanistan. The lives of the Afghan people are not being made better as a result of the conflict,” German said.
“The war and the consequent loss of life on all sides cannot be justified. Even in their own terms, the military are not succeeding,” she warned.
CND chair Kate Hudson said that Britain’s current annual expenditure on Afghanistan was nearly £4 billion – enough to build 200 new secondary schools.”
“The government is claiming a consensus for the need for massive cutbacks to our public services. None of the major parties are calling for serious cuts in the war budget, a measure that would be hugely popular,” Hudson said.
Other protests were staged by the Right to Work groups in dozens of towns and cities across the country, including outside Prime Minister David Cameron’s office, against cuts in public services and jobs.
Members of the Public and Commercial Services union also planned a demonstration outside the Treasury, holding up cards to illustrate an estimated £120 billion in uncollected tax revenue which the union said should be tackled instead of cutting public spending.
Meltdown, the group which organised demonstrations against the G20 Summit in London last year, coordinated its protest in Parliament Square just before Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne delivered his first budget at lunchtime on Tuesday.