Northerners flock to London demo

In the north-west one organiser said the region's response to the TUC's call had greatly exceeded the region's mobilisation for the successful demonstration on March 26 this year.

Merseyside TUC president Alec McFadden said: "Last time we had four trains and 30 buses. This time we have booked nine trains and 42 buses across the region."

By mid-week 20,000 people from the north-west had booked seats on coaches and trains and numbers were still growing.

Two trains booked by public service union Unison from Liverpool and Manchester were filled almost a week ago, and the union bought tickets on regular services from Lancaster, Preston and Chester to meet continuing demand.

Northern region TUC secretary Kevin Rowan said: "Public opinion is shifting and moving quickly away from the government's assertion that there is no alternative.

"There is - fairer taxation and investing in growth.

"Austerity is evidently not the answer."

Numbers have been swelled by dozens of campaign groups which have sprung up across the North in response to the government's vicious cuts and austerity programme, which are devastating services and costing tens of thousands of jobs in the region.

One example is Halifax-based Calderdale Save Our Services campaign group, which raised almost £1,300 to pay for its own coach to bring protesters from the towns of Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Halifax.