Tens of thousands march in London to demand Theresa May's resignation

Tens of thousands of protesters have marched through central London to campaign against the Conservative government as part of a “Not One Day More” protest.

More than 100,000 attended the rally, according to organising body the People’s Assembly. The protest began outside BBC Broadcasting House in Portland Place before moving on towards Parliament Square to hear a number of speakers including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Protesters arrived with banners branding messages of defiance against austerity and the Tory Party such as “Austerity kills” and “Kick the Tories out”, and people could be heard chanting “Not one day more” as the crowd moved through the streets of the capital.

Speaking to the crowds in Parliament Square, Mr Corbyn rounded on the Tories for this week raising hopes the public sector pay cap would be lifted before later dampening expectations by voting against a Labour amendment to the Queen’s Speech to scrap the 1 per cent ceiling imposed by George Osborne in 2012.

In front of thousands of protesters chanting “Oh Jeremy Corbyn”, the Labour leader said: “I say to any public sector workers in Northern Ireland or anywhere else – don’t have any illusions in these people, when they started the austerity programme they meant it and they meant it to carry on.

“And carry on with a growing gap between the richest and poorest in our society, with a growing impoverishment of those at the bottom, a growing under-funding of local government, health, education and all the other things that we all need in a civilised society.”

He criticised the “hypocrisy” of Tory MPs who praised the work of the emergency services dealing with recent terror attacks and the Grenfell Tower disaster.

“The utter hypocrisy of Government ministers and others who queued up in the chamber over there in the House of Commons to heap praise on the emergency services, the following day to cut their wages by refusing to lift the pay cap,” he said.

Mr Corbyn speaking to crowds in Parliament Square (Mark Thomas)

Alongside Mr Corbyn, Labour figures including John McDonnell and Diane Abbott as well as Unite union boss Len McCluskey and writer Owen Jones were among those speaking at the demonstration.

Musicians including DJ Shy FX, north London rock band Wolf Alice and singer Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly performed at the rally, which was widely publicised by demonstrators using the hashtag #notonedaymore on Twitter.

Anger was expressed over the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed at least 80 people two weeks ago, with many people chanting “Justice for Grenfell” and making a connection between public service cuts and the fatal blaze.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell vowed to support the victims of the horrific fire in west London when he spoke at the event, saying: “To the victims of Grenfell Tower we pledge now, we will stand with you and your families all the way through.

“We bring you sympathy but more importantly we bring you solidarity. We will not rest until every one of those families is properly housed within the community in which they want to live. Grenfell Tower symbolised for many everything that’s gone wrong in this country since austerity was imposed upon us.”

Activists assembled at the BBC’s Broadcasting House in west London at around midday before marching onto Parliament, with unions bussing in protesters from across the UK, including Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle.

The People’s Assembly Against Austerity, which organised the march, invited people to march against a Government “committed to austerity, cuts and privatisation”, saying it was marching “for a decent health service, education system, housing, jobs and living standards for all.”

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1/24 1 July 2017 People hold placards reading 'Wot A DisMay' and 'Not One Day More' as they take part in an anti-austerity demonstration outside Parliament in London, Britain. Tens of thousands of people took part in a demonstration against British Government and called to end austerity, further cuts and privatisation. EPA

2/24 30 June 2017 A screen displaying an image of Martyn Hett outside Stockport Town Hall as mourners arrive for his funeral on June 30, 2017 in Stockport, England. Twenty-nine year old Martyn Hett was one of 22 people who died in the suicide bombing at Manchester Arena after attending an Ariana Grande concert Getty Images

3/24 29 June 2017 Campaigners from Avaaz dressed as British Prime Minister Theresa May and Australian media Mogul Rupert Murdoch pose during a photocall outside the Houses of Parliament on Campaigners from Avaaz dressed as British Prime Minister Theresa May and Australian media Mogul Rupert Murdoch pose during a photocall outside the Houses of Parliament on June 29, 2017 in London, England. Culture Secretary Karen Bradley announced that the Competitions and Markets Authority is to conduct a further six-month investigation into Murdoch’s proposed £11.7bn takeover of Sky. Getty Images

4/24 27 June 2017 Workers using safety harnesses abseil off Bray Tower on the Chacots Estate in North London. The abseilers were taking measurements and taking notes as they scaled the building. The high-rise Tower blocks in Camden are still in the process of evacuation with some tenants refusing to leave after the cladding on the buildings was discovered to be similar to that found on the fire stricken Grenfell Tower Pete Maclaine / i-Images

5/24 27 June 2017 Workmen start to remove cladding on Hornchurch Court, Hulme, Manchester as as Prime Minister Theresa May has said there must be a "major national investigation" into the use of potentially flammable cladding on high-rise towers across the country over a period of decades in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire PA

6/24 26 June 2017 A festival-goer sleeps outside their tent at the end of the Glastonbury Festival of Music and Performing Arts on Worthy Farm near the village of Pilton in Somerset, South West England Getty

7/24 26 June 2017 Residents leave their home on the Taplow Block on the Chalcots Estate on June 26, 2017 in London, England. Residents of the Chalcots Estate have been urged to leave their homes due to fire safety fears in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Four of the five Chalcots Estate towers in Camden, North London, are being evacuated after they were found to have similar cladding to that on Grenfell, attributed to contributing to the rapid spread of the blaze last week that killed at least 79 people Getty Images

8/24 25 June 2017 Police officers on Romford Road in Forest Gate, east London, as people protest over the death of Edir Frederico Da Costa, who died on June 21 six days after he was stopped in a car by Metropolitan Police officers in Woodcocks, Beckton, in Newham, east London PA

9/24 24 June 2017 Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn addresses revellers from the Pyramid Stage at Worthy Farm in Somerset during the Glastonbury Festival REUTERS

10/24 23 June 2017 British Prime Minister Theresa May addresses a news conference at the EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, June 23, 2017 Reuters

11/24 22 June 2017 Cosplay fans (L-R) George Massingham, Abbey Forbes and Karolina Goralik travel by tube dressed in Harry Potter themed costumes, after a visit to one the literary franchise's movie filming locations at Leadenhall Market in London, Britain Reuters

12/24 22 June 2017 Racegoers cheer on their horse on Ladies Day at the Royal Ascot horse racing meet, in Ascot, west of London Getty

13/24 21 June 2017 A reveller walks among the tipi tents at the Glastonbury Festival of Music and Performing Arts on Worthy Farm near the village of Pilton in Somerset, South West England Getty

14/24 20 June 2017 A police officer lays some flowers passed over by a member of the public, close to Finsbury Park Mosque in north London, after one man died and eight people were taken to hospital and a person arrested after a rental van struck pedestrian PA

15/24 The Borough Market bell is seen in Borough Market in central London following its re-opening after the June 3 terror attack Getty Images

16/24 Two women embrace in Borough Market, which officially re-opens today following the recent attack, in central London REUTERS/Hannah McKay

17/24 Mayor of London Sadiq Khan attends the re-opening of Borough market in central London following the June 3 terror attack Getty Images

18/24 People walk through Borough Market in central London following its re-opening after the June 3 terror attack Getty Images

19/24 News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch, with one of his daughters, visit Borough Market, which officially re-opened today following the recent attack REUTERS

20/24 A woman reacts in front of a wall of messages in Borough Market, which officially re-opened today following the recent attack, in central London REUTERS/Hannah Mckay

21/24 Vivenne Westwood walks the runway at the Vivenne Westwood show during the London Fashion Week Men's June 2017 collections Getty Images

22/24 Millwall fan and London Bridge hero Roy Larner on 'Good Morning Britain' Rex

23/24 Richard Arnold, Roy Larner, Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid on 'Good Morning Britain' Rex

24/24 11 June 2017 England players celebrate after defeating Venezuela 1-0 to win the final of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea 2017 at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, South Korea AP

In a statement on the Facebook event, it said: “Theresa May called the general election to gain a bigger majority, and despite massive media bias in favour of the Conservatives, she failed spectacularly to deliver on that. Now the Tories are in chaos trying to prop up a Government with the deeply conservative and regressive DUP.

“The horrific events that followed the election at Grenfell Tower were avoidable. Privatisation, cut backs and illegal materials cost lives. Safety concerns were ignored. This is the most tragic example of what the consequences of austerity can be.”

A minute of silence for the victims of Grenfell Tower and a minute of applause for the emergency services were held during the protest, and there was a strong police presence, with some of the roads around the square closed to traffic.