Thousands of people in the North West took to the streets over the weekend to protest the soaring cost of living.
Demonstrations took place in Manchester, Liverpool, and Lancaster on Saturday as a response to rising energy bills.
Some estimates say the rise in energy bills will cost families up to £700 more per year.
Ian Allinson from Manchester TUC said, as per ITV: “We can’t go on like this. The government can find money when it wants, wasting billions on useless PPE and writing off loans.
“If we stand together we can prevent the government, employers and landlords from driving more people into poverty.”
Read More: The everyday essentials we’ll be paying more for as the cost of living continues to rise
The protests were organised by The People’s Assembly and took place across the UK, following energy regulator Ofgem’s confirmation the energy price cap will rise by 54% on April 1st 2022.
Protestors blame the government for the cost of living crisis and how they’ve handled the situation.
Rishi Sunak announced he was bringing in a one-off repayable £200 discount and a rebate on council tax bills to tackle the crisis, but this has attracted more criticism with some people saying they don’t want the payment.
Sunak told the Commons: “The price cap has meant that the impact of soaring gas prices has so far fallen mainly on energy companies. So much so, that some suppliers who couldn’t afford to meet those extra costs have gone out of business as a result.
“It is not sustainable to keep holding the price of energy artificially low.”
According to the Chancellor, the government’s £200 discount is ‘just one part’ of its plan to tackle the crisis.
