Manchester’s council tenants face an inflation-busting 6.48 per cent rent hike from April, according to plans signed off by Town Hall chiefs last week. Social tenants across the country face even steeper rises, as the government slashes welfare and pushes through housing reforms.
Unemployment in Greater Manchester has risen by 13.5 per cent in the last year while the number of young people claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) climbed to unprecedented levels seen during the recession, according to the latest figures from the Commission for the New Economy.
Around 20 people slept outside the BBC on Oxford Road, Manchester last night to oppose new legislation that would criminalise squatting. An amendment to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill which has its first reading in the House of Commons today, Tuesday 1 November, will make it a criminal rather than civil offence to trespass in an empty residential property.
A Longsight mental health charity is launching a new project for residents to share skills ranging from DIY to guitar lessons with one another. Staff at The Roby centre on Dickenson Road say the new ‘time banking’ scheme will help bring local people together and tackle ill health and isolation.
Over two hundred people rallied in Manchester’s Albert Square on Saturday in opposition to government cuts to support for disabled people. Similar demonstrations were held across the country as part of a national day of action called for by the Hardest Hit campaign.
Around 30,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Manchester today to protest against the Conservative Party Conference. The demonstration, named ‘Manchester for the Alternative’, was organised by the Trades Union Congress and the Right to Work campaign and drew in unionists and anti-cuts protestors from around the UK, with some coming from as far away as the West Country and Wales.
Lecturers at the University of Manchester took to the pickets yesterday as they went on strike against changes which threaten pensions.
