Last night I went to a public meeting held by the trade unions. There were a few people there, of all ages and thankfully no rabble rousers.
There were three speakers, from Unison, Unite and PCS and all three of them spoke passionately about the difficulties facing, not just their own members, but the country as a whole.
They spoke of facts that the rest of us can see - that a huge increase in unemployment will lead to economic downturn, not growth. That the cuts are in fact not necessary, but stem from a Tory ideology that everyone should just work harder, with no appreciation of the fact that there are no jobs. Facts like there being less than half a million jobs while there are over 2.5 million people out of work. And that is before the job losses begin.
It was a good night and hopefully just the start of a bigger campaign. They were under no illusions that there could be a quick solution but are prepared to fight for however long it takes. They were all agreed that everyone opposed, everyone affected, should stand together and fight these cuts that will damage not just our economy but our lives.
And I will be fighting with them.
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One thing the Labour Party and the union movemnet both need to do is find a coherant and easily understandable alternative to the coalition cuts. To just slag them off is OK short term, long term they need to find an alternative, hopefully, working together.
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