‘We are all Daniel Blake’ protest

Members of Unite Community’s West London branch will stage a ‘We are all Daniel Blake’ protest outside four west London job centres tomorrow (November 23) from 11am, as part of a day of action against benefit sanctions and welfare cuts.

Holding ‘We are all Daniel Blake’ placards and dressed as the film’s protagonist, protesters are urging everyone to go and see Ken Loach’s new award winning film I, Daniel Blake to build public support for a fairer social security system for people in and out of work.

The protest comes as chancellor Philip Hammond looks set to go ahead with plans to cut Universal Credit to the lowest paid, leaving them up to ÂŁ2,500 a year worse off when he delivers his Autumn Statement on Wednesday (November 23).

Unite Community has been campaigning to stop benefit sanctions ruining any more lives. Now it is calling on MPs and local councillors up and down the country to go and see I, Daniel Blake to see a true depiction of their impact.

Unite Community branch secretary Raj Gill said,  “I, Daniel Blake is a damning indictment of food bank Britain. It’s powerful because it’s true. People need support to find work that pays, not starved for turning up 10 minutes late to an appointment or demonised for being unemployed.

“Many of our members have first-hand experience of our nightmarish benefits system. They, like Daniel Blake, know the suffering and hardship caused to disabled people, unemployed and the low waged in this country.

“MPs and local councillors need to speak out,” Gill added. “They need to bring humanity back into a broken system, because with 16m working aged adults in this country having no savings at all, what happens to Daniel could happen to anyone. It’s becoming less about them and more about us, we are all Daniel Blake.

“We are urging the government to reverse the cuts to Universal Credit and stop benefit sanctions.”

Unite Community membership brings together people from across society, allowing those not in work to be part of the union family to campaign on the issues that matter to them.