ANTI-AUSTERITY campaigners called for “civil disobedience” as they vowed to step up the fight to defend the NHS and education at a conference in Derby on Saturday.

The conference hosted by Derbyshire People’s Assembly heard from national and local speakers about government attacks on public services.

Spokesman for NHS SOS Derby Marcus James gave details of plans to axe more than 500 hospital beds and a Derby NUT representative explained how the academy programme had led to local schools being taken into special measures for poor performance.

Derby People’s Assembly chair Bill Greenshields said: “We know the government won’t listen to our arguments. We’ve already won them.

“People know that the privatisation of the NHS and our schools is a disaster but they don’t care. The time for reasoning is finished. We need to see some civil disobedience. The situation is serious.”