Amidst growing pressure on the government over the bedroom tax, UK Uncut, the anti cuts direct action network, has announced that it plans to ‘ramp up the resistance’ to the benefits cap and the bedroom tax by undertaking civil disobedience across the country next month – Saturday 13 April.
UK Uncut would not be drawn on the exact nature of their plans dubbed ‘Who wants to evict a millionaire?’ but a statement on their website states they will be ‘bringing the cuts home to millionaire misery makers’ who they describe as millionaires with loads of spare rooms, who are avoiding tax, or politicians or business people who are directly pushing or benefiting from the cuts. This hints that they will be targeting individuals’ homes, as they did last summer when the targeted Nick Clegg’s home in Richmond. They say that their plans could include bedtime stories for children, bed blockades, and eviction notices.
The government has made minor concessions over the bedroom tax, but campaigners argue that this is not enough and are calling for a complete U turn. Foster carers, disabled people and single parents are expected to be hit hardest by the bedroom tax. The plans will make 670,000 people worse off and will see forced evictions of people from their homes, forcibly moved to another part or the country and onto the streets.
Sam Atkinson, UK Uncut supporter said: “We must resist the attack on benefits for everyone, not just a few exceptions. The cap on benefits and the bedroom tax will have disastrous affects for people. It will make them poorer and potentially homeless.
“People on benefits are not the problem as the government would have us believe. We know it’s the banking system, tax avoidance, and the government’s austerity policies that are designed to make rich people richer and everyone else poorer.
“There have been protests across the country and now it’s time to hit the streets again and take civil disobedience so we can’t be ignored. We’re going to bring our protest to the the homes of millionaires who have got loads of spare rooms and are directly benefiting from or pushing the cuts to housing benefits that are making people homeless. We are going to show them that we will not accept their unnecessary cuts.”
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