Hundreds march in Brighton to protest cuts to public services

The Brighton Pavilion MP spoke at the rally in Regency Square, and said: "This is a Government set on deliberately fragmenting our NHS, and adding yet more pressure to already overstretched nurses by scrapping nursing bursaries.

"Not only that, but we’ve got a Health Secretary who fails to recognise the crisis in primary care – who has actively endorsed the GP at Hand app run by the private company Babylon, which requires patients to deregister from their existing practice when they sign up.

"With 10 GP practices closing in Brighton and Hove since February 2015, it's time Matt Hancock stopped fiddling with his iPhone for a moment, and addressed the real issues of NHS underfunding and the chronic shortage of GPs.

"I’m proud that the Green Party has championed the NHS Reinstatement Bill. We believe that healthcare is not a commodity to be bought or sold. Our NHS should be protected, not privatised."

The event was organised by Sussex Defend the NHS and the Brighton and Hove Trades Council, and highlighted the impact of cuts on public services, with a particular focus on the NHS.

Hundreds turned out for the protest, with a rally at the Level at 11.30am, followed by a public march to Regency Square.

Madeleine Dickens from Sussex Defend the NHS spoke before the march, and said: “This Government and all the councils failing to stand up to the massive cuts inflicted on them are slashing and privatising our public services out of existence.

"They are shamefully depriving the most vulnerable in our society – people with disabilities, elderly people, families below the poverty line, the rapidly growing number of homeless of their most basic rights. People seeking refuge from war and famine, including those like the Windrush generation, who have been here for decades, are treated like second class citizens or worse. What sort of society are we becoming? Enough is enough. ”