Diane Abbott MP launches 7 June demo with blistering critique of Labour leadership at People’s Assembly press conference

“The people who run Starmer knew how to smash the left – but they hadn’t really thought through running the country”

Today in London, trade unionists, MPs, and campaigners gathered at a press conference hosted by The People’s Assembly to launch a mass demonstration on Saturday 7 June, marching under the banner: “No to Austerity 2.0 – Welfare Not Warfare.”
Speakers delivered a powerful warning about the Labour government’s return to cuts and scapegoating, calling for maximum unity against austerity, racism and war.

The protest is being backed by major trade unions and grassroots organisations nationwide.

“We’re not after any more money – we’re attempting to defend what we’ve got.”
Onay Kasab, of Unite the Union and leader of the Birmingham bin workers’ campaign, opened the event:

“Our members, refuse workers, are out on strike because they’re facing pay cuts of up to £8000 per year. I want to be very clear, these are pay CUTS. We’re not after any more money. We’re attempting to defend what we’ve got. This affects people’s rents and people’s mortgages. This is what austerity looks like, and it’s right across local government – from refuse workers to Special Educational Needs Departments (SEND). I think the message needs to be clear. When we’re talking about local government we are no longer talking about defending local services, we’re talking about rebuilding them all over again, because some of them have been completely and utterly destroyed.”

Martin Cavanagh of the PCS union declared:
“Our union, the Public and Commercial Services Union, is fully behind the demonstration on 7th June. It can’t come quick enough.”

Diane Abbott MP issued a stark assessment of Labour’s current direction under Keir Starmer:

“There’s a lot of talk about the Labour party losing votes to Reform. The Labour leadership should be challenging the Reform narrative, not echoing it.”
She continued:

“The policies of George Osborne are being revisited by Rachel Reeves. These policies were harsh on working people, they didn’t succeed, and sadly we’re now going to see a Labour chancellor implementing those same policies.”

Referring to Starmer’s recent immigration comments:
“It’s surprising to me that although the big issues in the council elections and by-elections last week were winter fuel tax cuts and Personal Independence Payment cuts, Starmer has chosen to talk about immigration in Enoch Powell-like terms.”

On shifts inside Parliament:
“The local election results have had an extraordinary effect on my colleagues in Parliament. They can see their majorities crumbling and nothing concentrates their minds like potentially losing their seats. They’re starting to stand up to the leadership and to move in a different direction.”

Diane ended her address with a final warning:
“The problem is that Starmer – and the people who manage Starmer – what they knew how to do is smash the left of the Labour Party – but they hadn’t really thought through running the country.”

Labour is:

Keeping the two-child benefit cap
Cutting the winter fuel allowance
Cutting disability benefits
Ignoring the WASPI women
Slashing public services
Attacking key workers like Birmingham refuse collectors
Boosting privatisation and military spending
Refusing to tax the rich

Migrants aren’t the problem, austerity is.

Building the Alternative

Organisers of the 7 June demonstration are bringing together the widest possible coalition of trade unions, campaigners, and communities.

The aim: not just to protest Labour’s cuts, but to offer a real alternative to both austerity and the rise of the far right.

Organisers said:

“Developing the anti-austerity movement can be a real challenge to Reform in working class communities.
We need a huge demonstration of unity against the government’s return to the failed and damaging austerity policies of the past.”

Join Us – Saturday 7 June
March on Downing Street – Details of demonstration

Say NO to austerity, NO to war, NO to racism
Say YES to welfare, YES to public services, and YES to working-class solidarity.

Migrants aren’t the problem. Austerity is.

Media Enquiries:
📧 office@thepeoplesassembly.org.uk

#NoToAusterity2 #WelfareNotWarfare #MarchOnJune7