Birmingham Residents have occupied the offices of Andrew Mitchell MP the only conservative MP in Birmingham. The occupiers say that “Austerity clearly isn’t working. We have huge and painful cuts to health, education and welfare but the deficit is getting bigger not smaller [1].

Roz Burgin a first year Birmingham student involved in the occupation said “I’m paying £9000 tuition fee’s but this somehow is costing the government more money not less [2]. The fees were supposed to give students more choice but at Birmingham University vital courses such as Nursing and Physiotherapy are facing cuts [3]. A lot of my friends haven’t come to university now because they can’t afford it. I know Andrew Mitchell probably thinks they are plebs but surely who gets to university should not be based on your parents bank balance?”

The protesters are angry at the contempt the government is showing to society's poorest which can be seen through Mitchell's pleb comments but also all the broken election promises such as "Cut the deficit not the NHS" what has actually happened is they've cut the NHS not the deficit[4], in fact the deficit is actually growing and instead of all being in this together austerity means hard times for most of us while those at the top continue to receive huge bonuses and celebrate with five course dinners [5]

The protesters demanded to have a meeting with Mitchell but where told he was in parliament so instead demanded a meeting with the head the Sutton Colfield Conservative Association, no such meeting was forthcoming however and instead the police were called. The plebs still refused to leave and eventually a senior police officer was called in. After two hours into the occupation and after the senior police officer had gone off to research what aggravated trespass was all about the plebs decided they had made their point and left. There were no arrests.

1.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/oct/18/deficit-debt-government-borrowing-data
2.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-18101729
3. Physiotherapy:  http://www.defendeducationbrum.org/physiotherapy-report-leaked/ , Nursing:  http://www.change.org/petitions/university-of-birmingham-nursing-degree-stop-the-course-from-closure?utm_campaign=friend_inviter_modal&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=26354496
4.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/04/autumn-statement-nhs-george-osborne