At a meeting on May 26th, Bristol Convention Of The Left agreed to work with others to hold a rally against cuts in public spending on the day of the budget in central Bristol– Tuesday June 22nd.

There will be a meeting to finalise plans on Wednesday 9th June from 7.30pm to 9.30pm at Hamilton House, Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS2 8TN. This is opposite the end of Jamaica Street.

Map: http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=BS28TN&countryCode=GB

All welcome. We will have a room on the 5th floor and will put a sign downstairs explaining how to get in.

For further information email leftconvention@gmail.com

Bristol Convention Of the Left agreed the following statement which will form the basis of publicity for the event:

The Tory/Liberal coalition government has announced the first stage of spending cuts. £6.2billion will be cut from jobs and public services in communities, transport, education and environment. On June 22nd there will be a budget which will give more details of the government's strategy for cutting the deficit. If Labour had won the general election similar cuts would have been introduced, perhaps more slowly. Politicians and the media tell us that cuts have to be made in 'the national interest', that 'we are all in this together' and that 'everyone will have to make sacrifices'.

The truth is that the last two years have seen a major crisis in the market economy, promoted and assisted by Tory and Labour governments for the past fifty years and beyond. Those who benefited most from the economy in the boom years were the rich. The gap between rich and poor has been increasing. When the crisis broke billions and billions of taxpayers money were poured into the banks to prop them up.

Those who benefited least from the boom years are now being told they must foot the bill. The government plans to make working people and their families pay for bailing out the banks and the general failure of the market economy.

When political leaders and the media say there is 'no alternative' to their policies they mean there is no alternative that they want to think about or want us to think about. We could start with a wealth tax to help cut the deficit. Then start reorganising the economy to benefit the many rather than the few.

Instead we can expect privatisation and cuts in jobs and public services. These will have an immediate impact not only on public sector workers but all those who depend on the services they provide. Pensions and welfare benefits will also come under attack. In Greece and Spain similar cuts have been met with fierce resistance.

Bristol Convention Of The Left will work with others to fight these cuts and campaign for a living wage for all. We propose to hold a rally in central Bristol on Tuesday 22nd June – the day the budget is announced.