This evening I'll be speaking at the launch of the Brighton Benefits Campaign at the Brighthelm Centre from 7:30pm, alongside trade unionists and others.

It is extraordinary that governments can find billions to bail out the banks, but can't find the money to protect some of the poorest, most vulnerable people in our society.

And so as bankers go back to business as usual, with the bonus culture entrenched once again, and over a million people have lost their jobs, thousands are having to claim unemployment benefits every week only to find how pitifully low they are.

I've met with Brighton residents who are feeling the effects of cuts to their welfare payments.

One of the most shocking cases I've heard about is that of Jack Watson, a retired postman who has had two heart attacks, severe arthritis and Meniers Disease, yet was considered fit for work by the privatised, outsourced medical assessment team processing his claim.

The Unemployed Workers Centre ran a massive campaign and took Jack's case to Tribunal - he won hands down.

The Government's welfare reform plans are massively misguided and clearly unfair, stigmatising the most vulnerable as villains, not victims, and driving working people into poverty.

That's why tonight I'll be joining forces with benefits & poverty campaigners, trade unionists & others to fight back against the attacks on disability benefits, fight back on funding for care of the elderly to highlight the alternatives to cutting payments to the most vulnerable and to stand up for equality and justice.