The Workers Party will be standing five candidates in May’s Assembly Elections.

Conor Campbell will be standing in West Belfast, Damien Harte in Upper Bann, the Party’s candidates in South Belfast will be Lily Kerr, Hugh Scullion in Mid Ulster and Gemma Weir in North Belfast.

In a joint statement the candidates said,

“This election is not about the European Union – although the major parties here will want to turn it into a pre- referendum debate to divert attention away from their collective record over the past five years.

This election is about the failure and the refusal of the Executive Parties, in particular, to bring forward and implement the political, social and economic legislation to allow progress, stability and an improved quality of life for all.

This election is an opportunity to pass judgement on the record of those parties which have been running the Assembly and the Executive for the past five years.It is an opportunity to confront and condemn their joint programme of reductions in public services, continued austerity measures and cuts to social welfare under the guise of welfare reform.

On May 5th The Workers Party will be offering the electorate an alternative to austerity, cuts, social backwardness and inequality.

Front line staff need community support

Workers Party Assembly candidate Damien Harte has condemned those guilty of abusing NHS and emergency services staff and has called for a community response to these type of incidents.

 Recently released figures show that almost 25,000 front line public sector workers were either verbally or physically assaulted over the past three years.

” The majority of these attacks take place on health and social care staff in our hospitals. local clinics and in the community. Around  8,000  workers are subject to these attacks each year , Damien said

Speaking in the Upper Bann constituency Damien said, ‘ Front-line health staff and emergency workers go to work every day to help people and serve the community. They should never be subjected to abuse or attack and we all have a civic responsibility to support them in their work and to support  a culture of  zero tolerance  on attacks”

Northern Ireland’s firefighters have been  attacked 357 times in the past three years while ambulance staff were subjected to 947 attacks in the same period.

Proud to take a stand in North Belfast

Gemma Weir is to stand as the Workers Party’s  North Belfast candidate in May’s Assembly Elections.

She was confirmed as the party’s choice at an election rally held on Sunday.

Gemma, who polled almost one thousand votes in  last year’s Westminster elections, used the rally to set out her manifesto saying that this election was an opportunity to pass judgement on the parties which had run the last Assembly.

“I want to live in a society which is anti- sectarian. I want an education system that is secular and publicly funded. I want women to be trusted to make their own decisions and I want racism and homophobia to be challenged and confronted at every turn” Gemma said

 I want a society which values people above profit, a society which uses all its resources to protect, encourage, develop and enhance its citizens and their environment. I want a socialist society. The Workers Party wants a socialist society and I am proud to take that stand in this election in North Belfast”, she concluded

Gemma’s speech in full: Campaign Launch Speech