“As far as working class people are concerned, whether cuts are labelled British or Irish, makes not a blind bit of difference. The hypocrisy of Assembly politicians protesting against cuts is breathtaking. All the parties in the Executive have introduced cuts for the past three years which has led to a crisis in our health service and other vital services. The only difference is they call them “efficiency savings”.
“Workers and communities must resist the cuts. The Socialist Party gives its full backing to the recently established Stop the Cuts Alliance which unites workers, trade unionist and community activists to link up resistance to the cuts. We say if anybody is to pay for the economic crisis, it should be the wealthy bankers, financial speculators and big business who are the ones responsible for the recession. It is reprehensible that the bankers who have been bailed out to the tune of billions of taxpayers money continue to get big bonuses while major cuts are on the cards for working class people.”
December's school student walkouts and protests to defend EMA and oppose the hike in tuition fees were an excellent example of young people standing up to fight for their rights. Thousands of school, university and tech students took to the streets, along with tens of thousands more in England and Wales. Unsurprisingly, the Tories and LibDems voted through the hike in tuition fees.
Members of the Socialist Party today picketed the meeting of the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust's Executive Board to highlight and oppose the cuts which the body is implementing. The Trust had moved the location of the meeting from Knockbreda to Knockbracken Health Care Park at the last minute. Pat Lawlor, West Belfast Socialist Party representative, delivered a petition to William McKee, Chief Executive of the Trust, opposing all cuts and demanding a halt to privatisation of services.
Public sector workers have sent a very loud message to the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Conservative/Liberal Democrat government.