Graham Kirkwood reports on a rally in Newcastle opposing cuts at the university, whose Vice-Chancellor is Chris Day, and the campaign against the crisis in Higher Education

A first day of very successful strike action at Newcastle University with large pickets around the campus, finished with a large rally at the monument in Newcastle city centre. Strikers and students heard speeches from the trade union PCS, Newcastle Trades Council as well as former North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll and UCU general secretary, Jo Grady.

Driscoll spoke of the appalling decisions taken by the Labour government to cut international aid and spend it on armaments. Grady spoke of the need for a national campaign to stop these devastating cuts in higher education, with 300 jobs threatened at Newcastle, and a call for a demonstration on 10 May.

If the national campaign reaches out to students and joins with a campaign to scrap fees and for a proper funding model, the demonstration could be big. Dundee, Newcastle and Brunel all need solidarity from the rest of the union and beyond. The fight for the future of higher education under Starmer’s Labour is on.