In March this year over 2,000 people attended the inaugural We Demand Change Summit of Resistance in London and on Sunday (15 June 2025) West Yorkshire is hosting its own We Demand Change summit at Beaver Works in Hunslet. Attendees will be joining for a packed day of workshops, panels and conversations uniting trades unionists, campaigners and activists to turn the tide of despair towards hope.
We Demand Change is bringing together activists and campaigns to debate, organise and mobilise around a set of 8 demands:
No more austerity: welfare not warfare
Tax the rich
Invest in public services
Stop arming Israel
Refugees welcome
Action on the climate emergency
Workers deserve better
Support LGBT+ people
The West Yorkshire We Demand Change summit is happening on Sunday 15 June between 12 and 6pm at Beaver Works, 36 Whitehouse Street, Leeds, LS10 1AD and tickets can be booked here bit.ly/wdc15june
Workshop sessions:
- Uniting the fight against oppression and the far right
- Welfare not warfare: fighting the war against the poor
- The rush to climate disaster: mobilising together to resist and overcome
- Party time: debating the left and elections
- Workers organising the fight back on the front line
- From Palestine to Sudan: resisting the global drive to war
Speakers include:
Richard Burgon MP, Mothin Ali – Green Party Councillor, Michael Lavalette – Preston Independents, Salma Yaqoob – campaigner, Shabbir Lakha – Stop the War, Jane Aitchison – President Leeds TUC, Louise Regan – Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Emma Hewitt – Leeds DPAC, Samira Ali – Stand Up To Racism, Lewis Nielsen and Artin Giles – We Demand Change and Katie Spencer-Matthew from Care4Calais plus local activists and strikers
Jane Aitchison President of Leeds TUC said:
“We are backing the We Demand Change summit” because trade unionists desperately need the change this government promised when we voted them in last year. We expected improved living standards, nationalised transport, energy and water and an end to child poverty and foodbanks. The government are not doing enough – we need to get together and make them!”
Jane from South Leeds said:
“I work in the public sector and live in LS11. The new government are continuing the austerity of the last government and I’m really concerned about the impact on the services we deliver and across the country me and my colleagues are continuing to face attacks on our terms and conditions. On the other side we face the threat of Reform. They offer nothing to understaffed, underfunded and overstretched public services. They want to privatise the NHS and are threatening the local government pension scheme as well as whipping up racism. The We Demand Summit will bring together people from across Leeds to start to turn the tide on despair and fight for hope!”
This post is based on a press release issued by We Demand Change
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