CAMPAIGNERS carried a coffin through the streets of Bolton today in a protest against benefits sanctions.

Members of the Unite union, the Bolton Trades Council, Bolton Against Bedroom Tax, and the Bolton Green Party joined the protest outside the town’s Jobcentre Plus.

The office in Blackhorse Street was one of 80 targeted as part of a national day of action, as well as the Department for Work and Pensions in London.

Unite says that punitive sanctions have resulted in over 318,000 people having their welfare payments cut or stopped without warning in the last year, affecting thousands of children and dependant adults.

Sanctions are given for reasons such as missing or being late for appointments with the job centre, or being too sick to actively seek work. 

Martin McMulkin, Bolton Trades Council secretary, said: “We are all just one serious injury or job loss away from coming to a job centre. These sanctions are part of the austerity agenda.

“They are punitive measures to punish people for nothing more than being poor or sick and that is not acceptable in this country, the fourth richest in the world.

“This government has blood on its hands.”