Parents and toddlers stage a sit-in protest at NatWest as anger grows over cuts to services

Published: 2 March, 2011
by TOM FOOT

‘Banks are treating us like dummies’

THEY came armed with abacuses, trombones, banners and a gaggle of giggling children.

Parents from far and wide set up a fun-packed creche on the floor of the Camden Town High Street branch of NatWest on Saturday.

The occupation was organised by UK Uncut, a campaign group aiming to channel the widespread hostility towards various public sector cuts on to the backs of the bankers.

It was described as “a very English protest” by more than one of the 70 who attended.

Bank customers queuing quietly in the background carried on as if nothing was happening. But many took leaflets on their way out and some even sat down and joined the peaceful protest.

“I totally support what they are doing,” said Sheila O’Connor, who paid a bill and then sat down on the floor and started pulling rubber faces and cooing at a baby, “I think it’s a great idea because if there’s one thing we can all concentrate our anger on it’s the bloody bankers.”

The leaflets outline how Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns NatWest, paid chief executive Stephen Hester a £2million bonus last year despite making a loss of £1.1billion.

A spokesman for RBS said it was in their interests to pay competitive salaries. 

UK Uncut was formed by a few friends in August 2010 over a couple of pints in the Nag’s Head pub in Holloway. It has now grown to become a global movement: US Uncut launched on Saturday and dozens of protests similar to the one in Camden were staged simultaneously across Britain. David Thomas, 46, a Youth Offending Team worker for Redbridge Council, travelled from East Wanstead with his wife and child to be at the Camden Town sit-in.

He said: “It takes an hour to get here, but we feel very strongly about it. It is just so obviously wrong that our services are going because of what the bankers have done. I think underlying all of this is a massive privatisation agenda.

“I think people are all very inspired by what is going on in the Middle East at the moment.”

Musician Sam Lindo, 25, said: “People are realising that in this country corporations have all the power, and not the government.”

She agreed that the Egyptian uprisings has brought “a great deal of hope” to campaigners in this country. 

A student taking part in the protest added: “It was quite a thing to get out of the bed I was in this morning, what with the rain and everything. I’ve only had two hours sleep. But it’s worth it – what UK Uncut are doing feels different.”

The event was dubbed a “Feminist Bail In” and designed to poke fun at the Conservative Party’s “Big Society” plan.

A spokeswoman for the UK Uncut said “greedy bankers” and the City’s big bonus culture were to blame for threat to public services they say will hit women disproportionately.

“These cuts will push progress on women’s equality back a generation,” she added. “The government should be making RBS/NatWest and the other banks pay for the crisis they caused.

“Women still do the bulk of caring for children and elderly parents, so will be most affected by reductions in childcare. Women make up 65 per cent of the public sector workforce – the jobs that are being cut.”

After about an hour the bank’s security told the group they were invoking the Public Order Act and soon after the campaigners wrapped up their banners and left peacefully. 

A spokesman for the Royal Bank of Scotland said: “Last year RBS contributed £3.9bn to the UK exchequer in taxes and other fees. The total amount paid to staff has reduced in the last year, however, to protect the interests of our investors (including the £45bn invested in RBS by UK taxpayers) we have to pay competitively.”