Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott address anti-austerity demonstration

Jeremy Corbyn, one of four people in the running to be Labour’s next leader, today addressed an anti-austerity demonstration in London.

The demonstration began at 12pm outside the Bank of England and ended at Parliament Squre, organisers have estimated that 250,000 attended.

Corbyn is the only one of the leadership candidates who appears to have attended. Prior to the march, Corbyn told the BBC that he believed Labour shouldn’t have accepted the Tories’ “cuts agenda” ahead of the last general election.

He also questioned the validity of austerity, saying, “Britain has become a more unequal society, is becoming a more unequal society and austerity is a cover for actually deepening that level of inequality.”

When he addressed the crowd Corbyn emphasised the need for positivity:

Let’s go forward with confidence and optimism. This is a movement, it’s absolutely not about ambitious individuals.

It’s a social movement of all of us that can change our society into something good rather than something that is cruel and divided.

Earlier in the day, Diane Abbott who is in the running to be Labour’s candidate for London Mayor also gave a speech, expressing her solidarity with those marching and her opposition to austerity:

I’m here to show solidarity with this march and demonstration today. Let’s remember what austerity is really about. Is it necessary? No. Austerity is about making the rest of us pay for the bankers, austerity is about making us even more unequal, and austerity is about dismantling our public services.

Abbott also spoke with the Guardian; she was critical of her fellow Labour MPs and emphasised that she was the only one of the six mayoral candidates – Tessa Jowell, Sadiq Khan, David Lammy, Christian Wolmar and Gareth Thomas – to attend the demonstration:

I think it’s sad that there are not more labour MPs here. Tory austerity is not necessary and the Labour Party should be making the case for an alternative. There’s huge popular support for fighting austerity particularly among labour supporters and I think it’s remarkable that I will be the only mayoral candidate that’s actually against austerity when I think the majority of labour supporters in London are against austerity.

Other Labour MPs who are noted to have attended include Grahame Morris, MP for Easington; John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington; Kate Osamor, MP for Edmonton and Clive Lewis, newly elected MP for Norwich South – who also dropped a banner out of his office window opposing the academisation of a school in the constituency he represents.