Skeletons protest about cuts in heart of Brighton

Public sector workers dressed as skeletons held a protest outside Brighton Town Hall today.

Their lunchtime demo was intended to make the point that government cuts will slash public services to the bone.

They called for Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs to “bone-up” on Unison’s alternative budget or face a dead loss in the next election.

The Hallowe’en warning – in Bartholomew Square – included “skeleton workers” armed with a giant placard with bones spelling out the union’s message: “Say No to skeleton services, say Yes to a fairer way.”

The union said that this was not the time for cuts but a time to invest in jobs and services to help the economy recover from recession and build a fairer society.

Unison’s “Save Our Services” alternative budget includes:

• A 50 per cent tax rate on incomes over £100,000 to raise £4.7 billion a year
• Reforming tax havens and residence rules to raise £10 billion a year by reducing tax avoidance by corporations and “non-domiciled” individuals
• Using minimum tax rates to raise £14.9 billion a year by stopping reliefs being used to disproportionately subsidise incomes over £100,000
• Bringing in a “Robin Hood” tax to raise £30 billion a year
• Bringing back the windfall tax on bankers’ bonuses to raise £1.5 billion
• Eradicating healthcare acquired infections from the NHS to save £500 million a year – the extra cleaners would cost half this sum
• Halving the agency bill for local government to save £1 billion a year
• Levying an empty property tax to raise £5 billion a year
• Ending the use of private consultants in central government to save £2.8 billion a year
• Replacing PFI schemes with conventional public procurement to save £3 billion a year user fees and interest charges