The politicians in the Assembly are now openly speaking about imposing water charges on householders in April 2011.
This additional bill will be in the region of £369 a year – but once they are introduced they will go like the gas and electricity prices and increase once they are fully brought in.
Householders already pay for water through our rates. The introduction of water charges will be a double-tax. Even though the politicians were told in no uncertain terms that the overwhelming majority of people are opposed to water charges, it seems they are now preparing to introduce them. They need to be reminded that they have no right to do so – there is no mandate to introduce water charges.
“We will not stop protesting against the thuggery of the right"
In 1989, one million Scots were not paying the poll tax. The All-Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation was also planning organised opposition south of the border. On 1 April 1990, 35 million people would get their poll tax bills and protests were being held throughout England and Wales.
Members of the PCS civil servants' union took strike action today to oppose the changes to the civil service compensation scheme (redundancy agreement). More reports to follow.
Contracting Out is a company headed by Sue Holmes, a senior consultant adviser to NI Water. This outsourcing company was awarded a contract by NI Water without any competition from other firms involving 130 days work by the firm at £775 a day, amounting to £100,000 of public money. On top of this, Holmes’ company had a 6% “success fee” for “savings identified” (not actual savings) of which she had claimed to have identified savings of £23m!