HUNDREDS of protesters took to the streets this weekend to fight for the future of Dorset’s public services.

Around 400 marchers banged drums and blew whistles as they marched through Dorchester chanting “you say cut back, we say fight back”.

Dorset resident and famous political singer Billy Bragg marched alongside lollipop men and women, librarians, local authority workers, charity workers and students, who all called for the authority to save their jobs and services.

The protest took place as the county braces itself to find out where the axe falls at a Dorset County Council crunch meeting on Thursday.

Billy Bragg sang protest songs as the crowd moved through the town – bringing shoppers and transport to a standstill.

He said: “People think Dorset is a quiet backwater where nothing goes on.

“They don’t understand the number of people who work in the public sector here - it’s great to see such a good turn-out today.”

Mr Bragg said he wasn’t concerned about the government’s Big Society plans.

“I’m not concerned about the size of the society. The type of society I want to live in is a compassionate society.

“Our whole society is fundamentally about compassion and it should not have that taken away. These are the people who are teaching our children, looking after our old people, breaking up fights in the street and sewing people up in casualty.

“They are the people doing the jobs that make society worth living in.”

The authority needs to make savings of £31 million over the next financial year and £54.9 million over the next three years.

Pamela Jeffries, secretary of the Dorchester branch of Unison, said: “What no-one talks about are the hundreds and thousands of people who earn less than the minimum wage.

“There are many people earning £21,000 or less. They are all doing vital jobs.”