'Enough is enough' - crowd gathers on Plainstones in Elgin to call for change amid cost of living crisis
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A CROWD in the hundreds gathered in the centre of Elgin on Saturday morning to call for more to be done to tackle the current cost of living crisis.
The protest lasted two hours and attracted in excess of 100 people – with more than a handful of elected politicians, including Moray's Conservative MP Douglas Ross and SNP MSP Richard Lochhead, in attendance.
Protestors called for energy bills to be cut, local businesses to be supported, pay for workers to be increased, for an end to hunger and for a cap on profits for energy companies.
Organiser David Blair said that change is needed, with this crisis having been building for 14 years.
"We want to energy bills to be reduced, the current cap is still too high," he said.
"We expect a lot of Moray households will pay more than the average and the offer for off-grid homes heating oil gas bottles of £100 extra is offensively small.
"Cuts to energy bills have not gone far enough and it's the way they are paying for it – through increased borrowing, which is ultimately going to have to be paid back for the taxpayer.
"Yet they are allowing energy companies to make excess profits of £150 million. That needs to change, there needs to be a fairer and better way of dealing with the crisis.
"This has been building since the banking crash in 2008. This isn't just about Ukraine, this isn't just about high energy bills.
"The cost of living inflation, the reduction in living standards, the increase in food bank use, all of these things have been going on since 2008 and it's not got to a breaking point and something needs to change."
Charlotte Heppenstall and Becky Gorrara, from Cullen, were there with their children – Flora, Ayda and Izzy.
Charlotte, who works for the NHS, said: "We are here because of the huge inequality that has hit the UK. It's not manageable any more, it's so unfair.
"We want the best for our children and for humanity, and we want to teach the kids that they have the right to protest.
"A newly-qualified NHS nurse gets £13 an hour, having to do 12-hour shifts. It's totally unacceptable. We need pay rises. It makes me cry.
"I've been pushed to this, I never protest. It's the first time my child has protested, we have been pushed to it as it's just got to much."
Kevin McKay, from Buckie, said that the crisis was the worst ever seen – and he landed the blame at the doorstep of the UK government.
"This cost of living crisis has never, ever, been seen before," he said. "This is worse than the times of the war
"You hear the stories from your grandad of the war time but this far exceeds what they had to go through.
"It's plain and simple, it's the Tory government. They are corrupt to the core. All that they have done in the last two years is fill their own pockets.
"People have accepted it so far but it's got to stop. Enough is enough."
