Several tens of thousands of people take part in a protest march in central London on Saturday amid the growing economic crisis in the UK. The protesters demand that the government of Boris Johnson take more decisive measures to support the population.
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The demonstration, organized by the British Congress of Trade Unions, in particular, was seen by prominent opposition politicians, including deputy leader of the Labor Party, Angela Rayner. The TUC has calculated that in the United Kingdom, salaries have remained virtually unchanged for almost 15 years, which, in the face of inflation, leads to a reduction in real incomes. The union said that each working Briton has lost, on average, about 20,000 pounds ($25,000) since 2008, as wage growth has been minimal compared to inflation.
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The march started from Portland Place at 12:00 local time and will end at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster. As seen in the footage, the demonstrators bring with them posters and banners calling for Johnson and members of the Cabinet to resign, as well as musical speakers from which ABBA’s hit Money, Money, Money and Aloe Black’s I Need A Dollar are played. Also among the protesters are railroad workers, who are staging their biggest strike in 33 years next week after railroad companies decided to freeze salary increases and lay off some of them.
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Earlier, the London-based Center for Economic and Business Research issued a report that warned that the UK risks facing the biggest drop in living standards since the 1950s. In April, annual inflation in the UK accelerated to 9% – the highest rate in 40 years. The Bank of England estimates that inflation in the United Kingdom will exceed 10% by the end of the year. Due to the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine, the pandemic and Brexit, the UK economy in 2023 will show the lowest level of GDP growth of any G20 country, except for the one under the strongest sanctions of the Russian Federation, according to the forecast presented on June 8 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.