JACOB Rees-Mogg was booed loudly by protesters as he entered the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
Police officers escorted the Business Secretary as he walked across Victoria Square, where demonstrators gathered to vent their anger at the UK Government.
The crowd followed the minister as he walked towards Birmingham’s International Convention Centre, with jeering, booing and shouts of “Tory scum” all being heard.
Jacob Rees-Mogg’s reception in Birmingham. #ToriesOut@pplsassembly pic.twitter.com/FVQfVjlEaS
— Shabbir Lakha (@ShabbirLakha) October 2, 2022
Members of the public had to be held back by the police as they recorded Rees-Mogg on their phones and attempted to hand him leaflets.
Hundreds are protesting outside the venue to express their anger over Liz Truss’s tax cuts for the richest, holding signs which say “unelected, unaccountable, unhinged” and “wages up, bills down, Tories out”.
Jane Elledge, 53, an IT trainer from Bromsgrove, told the PA News agency: “Enough is enough really. We’ve had Brexit, we’ve had falling standards, we’ve had people having to work two jobs, people starving, people with no heating and just the kind of final straw is the announcement of the richest people getting a tax cut.
“Trickle-down economics doesn’t work. We get nothing, nothing for the working people.
“It’s got to stop. Tories out.”
Mick, a 58-year-old from Birmingham, described the Government’s mini-budget as “disastrous for normal people” while carrying a placard which read “Tory lies kill.”
He said: “It’s just the start though. The next step is to balance the books again, they’re going to cut public services even further. They disgust me”.
Attempting to play down the protests, Rees-Mogg told Sky News that they were simply a "fact of democracy."
He said: “There have been protests at Tory conferences since time immemorial, it’s nothing new.
“It’s a fact of democracy. They’re shouting but it’s perfectly peaceful.
“And the right to peaceful expression of your view is fundamental to our constitution.”
