Anti-Elon Musk protest on Westminster calls for wealth tax from Labour

AN anti-Elon Musk protest calling for wealth taxes on the super rich has been projected onto the UK Houses of Parliament.

The group Climate Resistance projected a series of messages onto the Westminster palace overnight on Tuesday, with messages including “tax the super-rich” and “abolish billionaires”.

Other messages said “abolish Elon”, a shot directly at Musk, the far-right US government official and Tesla chief executive.

Along with Musk’s face, other billionaires like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, and Grangemouth owner Jim Ratcliffe were also projected onto Westminster.

(Image: Climate Resistance/Michelle Sanders) Campaigners said they were calling on the government to introduce a wealth tax in order to fund social services and climate action, rather than introduce cuts to disability benefits and international aid – as Labour have done.

Climate Resistance’s Abolish Billionaires campaign is calling for a 100% tax on assets over £10 million – which is vanishingly unlikely to ever be taken forward.

However, calls for a wealth tax in some form have been growing, with some of the Labour MPs who have said they will vote against disability cuts backing one.

Climate Resistance campaigners pointed to YouGov polling, published on March 25 this year, which found that 78% of Brits support a wealth tax. 

(Image: Climate Resistance/Michelle Sanders) Sam Simons, spokesperson for Climate Resistance, said: “In projecting a call to tax the super-rich onto the Houses of Parliament, we’re aiming to shine light on the absurdity of our rigged economy that protects the wealthiest while squeezing out everyone else.

“The richest 1% own more wealth than the bottom 95%, and they create more pollution in a day than any one of us could in a lifetime. 

“The majority of Britain agrees that billionaires should not even exist. And still, when the government comes looking for money, the most vulnerable are sacrificed and climate targets tossed away to protect the interests of oligarchs.

“If the budget is incompatible with decent living standards and a liveable planet, it’s time to bin the budget and finally tax billionaires. It’s time to unrig our economy: tax their billions and fund our futures.”

The protests took place after Westminster went into its Easter recess on Tuesday afternoon.