'Enough Is Enough': Campaign website crashes as 'tens of thousands' sign up hours after launch
The website for a campaign promising protests and picket lines over the government's inaction at tackling the cost of living crisis reportedly crashed hours after launching as "tens of thousands" rushed to sign up.
Trade unions, community organisations and MPs have joined forces in the hopes of "winning back dignity for working class people" as Britain braces for the biggest economic crisis in a decade.
Rail, Maritime and Transport Union Secretary General Mick Lynch is among those heading up the Enough Is Enough campaign that is calling for pay rises, energy bills to be slashed, an end to food poverty, affordable housing and a tax on the richest in society.
Speaking in a campaign video shared on social media, Mr Lynch said: “People are fed up with the way they’re treated at work. We need to turn that mood into real organisation on behalf of the working class.”
Boris Johnson on Monday ruled out offering more emergency support to struggling households, saying it is a matter for the "future prime minister".
This is despite former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon calling on Mr Johnson to trigger an emergency government meeting to deal with the crisis.
It comes after the Bank of England's bleak announcement that inflation is set to rise above 13% in October, while another projection found that the energy price cap could rise to £3,358 annually from October, and could hit £3,615 from January.
Just two hours after the Enough Is Enough campaign was launched, organisers said the website crashed as it “struggled” to cope. By the end of the day, it said 75,000 had signed up.
Dave Ward, General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), told ITV News the campaign is needed because "the country is on its knees".
"More food banks than McDonalds, millions of people unable to pay bills, millions more taking second jobs to even survive. All of this while the rich get richer," he said.
"This campaign is about rebalancing the economy and winning back dignity for working class people.
"We will force change by taking our messaging into every single corner of the UK... It’s time for trade unions, community groups and workers to come together like we haven't seen in decades – because that is the scale of this crisis."
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Zarah Sultana, Labour MP for Coventry South, said the campaign promises to hold rallies, mobilise community groups and stand together on picket lines vowing they "won’t let working people pay the price for yet another crisis".
"This is the biggest attack on living standards since records began. Bills are soaring but wages are stagnating and it will get so much worse if the energy price cap is allowed to rise dramatically this winter.
"This campaign says none of that is inevitable. There is incredible wealth in our society – with multinational corporations making record profits – but it’s hoarded by a privileged few. We’re saying enough is enough: put our need before their greed."
Former Prime Minister Mr Brown earlier said the country cannot wait another four weeks for a new prime minister to be sworn in before households get the support they urgently need.
He urged Tory leadership hopefuls Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to get together with Boris Johnson this week.
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“If they don’t agree on anything else they should agree that emergency help is needed and so I think the help should be introduced and announced immediately," he said.
“And if they’re not going to do this, I think Parliament should be recalled.
“You see someone’s got top express the concern of the whole country about this.”
"By January, 47% of households in London will be in fuel poverty, but it'll be 59% in the North East, the north west, Yorkshire, the West midlands, but it'll be 62% in Scotland and Wales and then 72% in Northern Ireland," he said.
"These are figures that we've never seen before."
Charities have also warned the crisis will only deepen in the coming months - something that is a "really terrifying prospect".
Senior economist at The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Rachelle Earwarker, said: “We haven’t even seen the worst of the crisis yet.
“So what we can expect coming into this winter - if we don’t see any further support put in place - is the number of households in arrears increasing, the number of households who are having to take on more debt to try and pay their essential bills and the number of households going without essentials rising dramatically."
Downing Street has said it is already helping households this autumn including payments of £400 for households for rising energy bills.
But it says any further help will have to be decided by the new prime minister - a point of contention between Ms Truss and Mr Sunak who have repeatedly clashed over their tax plans and economic outlook.
ITV News has contacted No 10 for comment.