Britons to burn their bills in weekend wave of cost of living protests
UK householders are poised to set fire to their utility bills on Saturday, in a wave of cost of living protests timed to coincide with the jump in gas and electricity unit prices that will cause bills to soar.
In what organisers forecast will be the largest nationwide protests against an economic crunch, which got worse this week with money market chaos and mortgage rate rises looming, dozens of rallies will be staged from Plymouth to Aberdeen, while postal and railway workers also strike.
On the day the government’s £150bn energy price guarantee comes into effect, which allows average household bills to hit £2,500 a year, up from £1,971, people are expected to torch bills in Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton and London.
Those wielding lighters include the backers of Don’t Pay UK, a grassroots movement that has received almost 200,000 pledges from householders prepared to cancel their direct debits unless the government does more to protect the poorest families.
The protests are being coordinated between multiple community organisations and trade unions in a bid to maximise impact. They come as night-time temperatures dip into single figures and families debate whether firing up the heating is affordable.
Enough is Enough, a campaign backed by the postal workers’ union, CWU, is staging 28 rallies. Don’t Pay, which is spreading virally through more than 400 WhatsApp groups, is running events in 18 towns and cities, while campaign groups including Insulate Britain, Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion are also taking part.
“People are completely outraged about how severe and immediately material the effects will be on their living standards and how transparently unfair they are,” said Franklin Dawson, 29, a graduate student and
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