Islington Strikes Back against Cuts

Over 400 Islington residents took part in a march from the Nags Head area of Holloway to a rally in Upper Street today against the government cuts which will hit their borough particularly hard. London, UK. 05/02/2011
The march was called by the Islington Hands Off Our Public Services Coalition (IHOOPS) who say that Islington will lose £335 million, equivalent to £4000 a year in vital services for every house in the borough. Under threat are services for the elderly, teachers, youth workers, NHS mental health services, firemen, transport, libraries, welfare payments and many voluntary organisations.

IHOOPS is calling for privatisation plans to be halted and cuts to public services to be stopped. They urge the government to tackle the deficit by creating jobs, investing in housing, education, renewable energy and pubic transport, cracking down on the £120 billion of tax being evaded, avoided or simply not collected and ending wasteful vanity projects such as the Trident replacement and the throwing away of public funds in PFI projects and the employment of expensive consultants.

The march gathered at the Nags Head on Holloway Road and made its way down past Highbury and Islington station, where I left it. Among the four hundred or so in the march, pushing his bike, was Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn who has represented the area since 1983, and was presumably to be one of the speakers at the rally at the end of the march on Islington Green.