“The last significant act of the Assembly was to pass a vicious budget of cuts which will lead to huge job losses in both the public and private sector and will destroy vital services.”
“Youth unemployment officially hit 21.5% this month. The next Assembly Executive looks set to cut the Education Maintenance Allowance and raise tuition fees to £5,750 a year.
“It is fitting that on the last day of the Assembly hundreds of lecturers in the North joined their colleagues across England, Scotland and Wales in strike action against attacks on pensions. Hundreds of thousands are expected to march on Saturday at trade union protests against the cuts. There is no support for the austerity agenda of the main Assembly parties. It is time for a real alternative to represent working class people.
“The Stop the Cuts Campaign is organising people across Northern Ireland to resist the cuts which all the main parties will attempt to carry out after the election. People should send a clear message to the politicians when they appear on the doorsteps that we will not pay for the crisis caused by the super-rich and the banks. Indeed it is a disgrace that all the main parties support a cut in tax for banks and big business at the expense of public services in the form of a cut in corporation tax. The Socialist Party is opposing this handout to the banks and demanding that the rich pay for their crisis, not ordinary people.
Police action proceeds against victims, instead of helping
To their disgrace, the parties in the Assembly Executive are attempting to bully householders into accepting water charges with the threat of even further cuts to public services. It is being peddled that the cuts to public services are because householders are not paying water charges. This is a lie and the facts speak for themselves.