Enough is Enough rally Sheffield: Hundreds gather to protest 'pure greed' amid soaring bills

Hundreds of people joined the Enough is Enough rally in the city centre, which was one of many such demonstrations taking place across the country on Saturday, October 1.

Ordinary people there told how they are having to cut back on heating, make tough decisions when shopping for food and give up on their dreams of buying a house, as they are faced with rising energy bills, spiralling inflation and rapidly escalating interest rates.

The national protests were organised on the day annual energy bills for the average household rose from £1,971 to £2,500, and at the end of a week in which Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget, which included axing the top 45 per cent tax rate for the richest, sent the value of the pound tumbling and sparked predictions the interest rate could rise to six per cent by next spring, putting a huge strain on mortgage holders.

Union leaders told the large crowd assembled at Devonshire Green, ahead of a march through the city centre, via The Moor, to Barker’s Pool, that the demonstration marked the ‘start of a fightback’.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC), which organised the rally, said it was unacceptable that the Government was ‘robbing the poor to pay the rich’ while many people struggle to survive amid the cost-of-living crisis.

What do protesters want? Demands include real-terms pay rises, energy bills cut and higher taxes for the rich

The union’s five key demands are for real-terms pay rises, energy bills to be slashed, an end to food poverty, decent homes for all and higher taxes for the rich to reduce inequality.

Several people were brandishing banners reading ‘tax the rich’, while others went further, holding aloft placards declaring ‘eat the rich’.

Those gathered in Sheffield included Laura Parkinson and her brother Phil Parkinson, from Millhouses.

They said: “We’re scared to put the heating on because of the heating increases, which are just absolutely preposterous.”

They added that many people risked losing their homes, saying: “It’s really frightening. In such a rich country it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s just down to pure greed. That has to change.”

How are soaring bills, low wages and interest rate rises affecting people in Sheffield?

NHS worker Elinor Smith, from Crookes, said: “I’m definitely more conscious about heating and definitely looking (more) at what we’re spending on a food shop. We were going in for a mortgage to try and buy a house and obviously we’re going to have to rethink that now.”

Ric Cowley, aged 29, who lives in the city centre and works in marketing, said: “I think our Government clearly has no intention of looking after the people and they clearly don’t care about the working classes or anybody like that. They’re only interested in themselves. The tax cuts are ridiculous and frankly we need to come out in numbers and show them we’re not going to stand for it anymore.”

Mel Howles, a 57-year-old electrician, from Southey Green, said: “We’re here because I can’t afford to pay my energy bills because of the greedy energy companies. We’ve got to show support and solidarity for it.”

And Ella Baldwin, a 34-year-old clinical researcher, living in Nether Edge, said: “I’ve had enough. It feels like we need to get together and do something and stop just leaving it up to other people.”