"No ifs, no buts, no NHS cuts" - thousands march on Downing St in 'Fix it Now' protest
"It can't have escaped anyone's notice that our NHS is in crisis."
Thousands of UK residents have taken to the streets of London to protest potential cuts to NHS services.
A crowd marched on Downing St on Saturday (3 February) and publicly berated Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. They held picket signs with campaign slogans such as "No ifs, no buts, no NHS cuts". Protest organisers have said around 250,000 are attending the march.
According to the Evening Standard, union leaders are claiming that NHS services are already "on their knees". Planned changes could mean around 100,000 vacant positions in vital health roles.
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said the NHS service in the UK was "in crisis". "It is a crisis created by the Tories and austerity," Corbyn said, according to the Evening Standard. "In face of all the evidence - patients being treated in hospital corridors, people dying in the back of ambulances, hospitals in dire need of repair - they are refusing to give our NHS the money it needs and now."
"It can't have escaped anyone's notice that our NHS is in crisis. The NHS will only survive if we fight for it."
This Saturday, Feb 3rd, Iâll be marching for the NHS. Please join me. #peoplesassembly #NHSincrisis pic.twitter.com/51x9yARGSk
— Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) January 30, 2018
Signs at the protest lamented Hunt's salary and one even showed a vulture picking away at an NHS logo. English actor Ralf Little attended the march after he engaged Hunt in a Twitter feud in November. Little was demanding better services for mental health conditions.
Bristol teenager Becky Romero died in July last year, 13 days after being released from a mental health unit, due to "NHS neglect". Her mother Nicola has since become an advocate for better NHS funding and services.
Despite the rainy weather in London, buses still brought thousands of people in from other UK cities to protest.
Weâre ready to go.
— NHS Million (@NHSMillion) February 3, 2018
Please RT for everyone campaigning for the NHS in the rain today.#FundOurNHS pic.twitter.com/HMMEg65xOX
There is money for Brexit.
— Dr Lauren Gavaghan #NHSLove (@DancingTheMind) February 3, 2018
There is money for Trident.
There is money for the DUP.
So donât let anyone kid you,
There *is* money for our NHS. #FundOurNHS #FundtheNHS
Tens of thousands are marching on Downing Street right now to challenge Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to properly fund the NHS but nothing about it on the 1pm @BBCNews! WHY NOT? If BBC1 won't report it let's do it ourselves! #FundOurNHS #NHSCrisis pic.twitter.com/J0YizTlqHs
— Peter Stefanovic (@PeterStefanovi2) February 3, 2018
Was fab to be out marching for our NHS today! pic.twitter.com/8l6K826Afx
— Cat MacLean (@catmaclean12) February 3, 2018
#OurNHS. We were there-- thousands of us-- in the rain, demanding an end to Tory cuts to our NHS. pic.twitter.com/kmIHf6WWOP
— KJAP (@mrsdog50) February 3, 2018