Monthly Archives: April 2022

Education, the NHS, Cost of Living, Why Vote and Votes @ 16

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Eoin MacNeill (East Belfast) addressed measures to alleviate the current cost of living crisis but pointed out that only a socialist programme for government can deliver for working class people. Workers Party Belfast East https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064424689834

This day week we have an opportunity to do something about it. Let’s make sure we take it – said Lily Kerr (North Belfast) as she spelt out the importance of voting for the Workers Party. Workers Party Belfast North https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068795751019

Paddy Crossan (West Belfast) made the case for votes at 16, arguing that if Northern Ireland is to be a fully participative democracy the involvement, and active participation of 16 and 17 year olds is essential to that process. Workers Party West Belfast https://www.facebook.com/groups/606792129418820

‘Education, education and education’ was the message from Newry & Armagh candidate Nicola Grant setting out the socialist programme from pre-school to third level Workers Party Newry and Armagh https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069112484226

Hugh Scullion (Mid Ulster) has warned tbat the NHS is not safe from sell off, fragmentaion or privatisation and that, having helped to beat Covid, the battle is on to save the NHS itself. Workers Party Mid Ulster https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064424689834

The chronic shortage of public housing was highlighted by Patrick Lynn ( South Belfast) calling for a compehenisve building programme and the reinstatement of the Housing Executive as the lead agency. Workers Party Belfast South https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064982850197

Environment, Assembly, Benefits, Poverty and Public Ownership

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Sinn Fein’s appalling poverty record in West Belfast was top of Paddy Crossan‘s agenda Workers Party West Belfast https://www.facebook.com/groups/606792129418820

Nicola Grant (Newry & Armagh) was highlighting the ‘environmental insanity ‘ of jeopordising 200 year old oak trees. Workers Party Newry and Armagh https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069112484226

In MId Ulster, Hugh Scullion was warning of the ongoing threat to the Sperrins posed by mining exploration and the need for renewed vigilance to safeguard this area of oustanding natural beauty. Workers Party Mid Ulster https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064424689834

Taking ferry services and othef infrastructure into public ownership was called for by Eoin MacNeill in East Belfast . Workers Party Belfast East https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064424689834

Patrick Lynn in South Belfast was calling for the reform of the DLA and PIPs systems and the unnecessary burdens the application and renewal processes place on famiies of children with Downs. Workers Party Belfast South https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064982850197

Lily Kerr ( North Belfast) was setting out the case and the necessity for the reform of the Assembly’s structures including the ending of mandatory coalition . Workers Party Belfast North https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068795751019

What the Candidates have been saying

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Hugh Scullion (Mid Ulster) focussed on the problems of mental ill-helath in rural areas. Workers Party Mid Ulster https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064424689834

West Belfast candidate, Patrick Crossan, raised concerns and queries about public housing on the old Mackies site: Workers Party West Belfast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/606792129418820

In East Belfast, Eoin MacNeill was arguing the case for apprenticship schemes and an economy built around young people: Workers Party Belfast East https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064424689834

Nicola Grant ( Newry & Armagh) continued her camapign to secure services at Daisy Hill Hospital. Workers Party Newry and Armagh: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069112484226

The Party candidate in South Befast, Patrick Lynn highlighted social deprivation, inner city blight and health inequalities: Workers Party Belfast South: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064982850197

Meanwhile in North Belfast Lily Kerr was canvassing the Oldpark area, putting up some final posters and being interviewed by a local journalist. Workers Party Belfast North https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068795751019

Workers Party Candidates Launch Socialist Manifesto

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The standout headline in the Workers Party Assembly Election Manifesto is that, on the morning after polling day, the priorities for people across Northern Ireland will be the Cost of Living, the Health Service, Housing. Education, Low Pay and the Environment – NOT a Border Poll, the Protocol, Flags, Culture Wars or who the First Minister is.

The Party’s uncompromisingly socialist manifesto sets out the political, social and economic priorities for working class people and highlights the repeated failures of successive Stormont Executives and of the five main parties.

The manifesto calls for a root and branch reform of the Assembly structures including a move away from mandatory co-alition, the abolition of community designation and the reform of the Petition of Concern, as pre-requisites for the start of the new Assembly.

The Party also calls for the introduction of a a range of measures deliberately ignored since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, including a Bill of Rights, an Integrated and Secular Education system, an Anti-Poverty Strategy, a viable Economic Plan and a Job Creation Strategy.  

In a joint statement marking the manifesto launch the Party’s six Assembly candidates said ,

“What difference will it make to a family facing a daily dilemma of heat or eat, who the First Minster is? What difference will it make to people living in chronic poverty, poor housing, or even no housing?

What difference will it make to young mothers desperately wanting to work but not being able to find or afford childcare?

What difference will a Border Poll make – win, lose or draw –   to a young student unable to go to university, a teenager unable to secure an apprenticeship or a family with no heat and little food? Absolutely none!

Thousands of people – many of them with jobs– are  living on or below the poverty line.

Low-pay and precarious employment, the dismantling of work-place rights, the privatisation of public assets and restrictions on trade union freedom, compound and intensify those problems. Children go hungry, homes go unheated.

The other parties want this election to be a sectarian headcount. They want it to be about the Protocol and a Border Poll. Of course they do, because it shifts attention away from what really matters in our lives

In this election the Workers Party is prioritising, unapologetically, these issues and presenting the socialist alternative to misery, poverty, social exclusion and second class citizenship.

WORKERS PARTY ASSEMBLY ELECTION MANIFESTO 2022

Click the link for the Workers Party Assembly Election Manifesto 2022

wp-assembly-election-manifesto-2022-1

Treatment of migrants is ‘cynical, callous and cruel’

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The UK government’s proposal to send migrants, who arrive in Britain without a permit, to Rwanda has been condemned as “cynical, callous and cruel”, by Workers Party candidate in East Belfast Eoin MacNeill.

£50 million in new funding has also been announced to pay for boats, aerial surveillance and military personnel to prevent those seeking asylum from attempting to cross the Channel in small boats.

“These proposals have been condemned by the United Nations refugee agency and refugee action groups”, Eoin said

“People who are the victims of war, interventions, oppression and exploitation by reactionary regimes have the right to seek a safer life in other countries. The UK government proposal deliberately ignores the causes of mass migration. It is importnag to expose the exploitative system which gives rise to mass migration and work unceasingly to end it”, he said.

“The UK and the European Union, together with their allies in the US and NATO, have created the conditions where people are forced to flee their own countries. War, poverty, exploitation and oppression have forced people to risk their lives and safety to seek a better life which they cannot achieve at home”, said Eoin. 

“Fortress Europe”, with its closed borders, fences, quotas and prison camps is no solution. Refugees must be treated with dignity and compassion and with full respect for the Geneva Convention and international law”, Eoin argued.

“Those rights arising from refugee status and those seeking asylum must be recognised and respected for all nationalities and repressive measures against refugees must immediately cease”.

“Governments must provide decent and suitable facilities to ensure appropriate accommodation, medical care and documentation. These duties cannot be outsourced to third countries where refugees and asylum seekers will be faced with social, economic and language problems and exposed to the risk of exploitation and abuse”, Eoin warned.

“Consult with people first”, says Crossan

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The announcement that the ‘Phone First’ system for contacting a GP is to be made permanent has been heavily criticised by Workers Party West Belfast candidate Patrick Crossan

“I am appalled”, he said “that the Royal College of GPs has taken this decision without either reference to, or seeking the opinions of, the thousands of local GP patients that will be affected by it”

“Our health services are under extreme pressure through lack of investment and there is also significant pressure on our GP services. We all know that from our personal experience, particularly over the last two years”, Patrick said.

“GP services are central to our health and care system; they are at the heart of the community. This is no way to manage that service and shows a serious disregard for the thousands of people who regularly rely on their GP surgery”, Patrick claimed.

“I am calling for an immediate reversal of this dangerous decision and for a period of public consultation – in which everyone’s views can be taken into account – on how best local GP services can be delivered”, he said

“Part of that discussion has to be about ending the private contractor status of GPs and making them NHS employees”, Patrick added

Workers Party stands candidates in six constituencies

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The Workers Party will be standing candidates in six constituencies in next month’s Assembly elections

The election campaign is being fought in the face of the worst cost of living crisis in decades, and all that that means for working class people and their families.

That crisis has been made worse, and contributed to, by the dysfunctional Stormont Executive. A Stormont Executive that has failed, failed and is set to fail again.

With families, the vulnerable and the elderly particularly affected, the main political parties have, yet again, put their own interests ahead of the community and working people.

Only the Workers Party candidates will be presenting a radical socialist alternative to the electorate

On Friday the 6th of May – the day after polling day – we will all be confronted by a number of issues that will fundamentally affect all our lives, the lives of our families our children our neighbours and our friends:

And they won’t be: A Border Poll, the Protocol, Flags, Culture Wars or Community Identity

The issues facing the vast majority of people and particularly working class families will be the Cost of Living, the Health Service, Housing, Education, Low Pay and the Environment

If golf clubs can receive cash subsidies and businesses be supported to the tune of over £22 billion then working-class people, families, single parents, the elderly and the vulnerable can also be provided for.

This election gives the opportunity to re-write the political script in favour of working-class people and their needs.

The Workers Party, the party for working class people, provides that platform

The Party’s Candidates

North Belfast Lily Kerr

South Belfast Patrick Lynn

East Belfast Eoin MacNeill

West Belfast Patrick Crossan

Mid Ulster Hugh Scullion

Newry & Armagh Nicola Grant

Poverty: early years and life-long legacies

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Poverty is most often described as having low or no income, a lack of food, shelter or heat. However, looking at poverty and its effects through childcare provision and early years education is less common.

The availability and cost of childcare are key factors in the struggle against poverty. High quality and accessible early education and early years support can play a significant role in combatting the effects of poverty for children and families. Research and practice have shown that by supporting children’s development can significantly improve their educational outcomes.

Affordable, accessible and flexible childcare provision is vital if parents are to be supported in securing employment or in accessing education and training.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where parents are not offered 30 hours of free childcare. Yet another failure by a Stormont Executive more concerned with pursuing their self-interests than addressing poverty.

The first five years of any child’s life are amongst the most formative. During this period a child’s brain develops more rapidly, than at any other time in their life. The quality of a child’s experiences in the first few years of life – positive or negative – helps shape how their brain develops. These experiences have a lasting impact on their health and ability to learn and succeed in school and in life.

Children born into and living in poverty are at an immediate and lasting disadvantage; one that will stay with them and affect them for the rest of their lives.

Germany, France, Finland and Sweden all provide varying forms of free early years / pre-school education. In Northern Ireland parents can access two-and-a-half hours of free pre-school education a day, well short of the rest of the UK and nothing like the availability of some other European countries. To make matters worse, the scheme only operates in term time.

It is totally inadequate for the pre-school needs of the children and woefully insufficient for the needs of working parents, even those in part time employment.

The creation of a comprehensive social system for pre-school age children, preparing children for school and life, was one of the major achievements of the socialist countries. 

Poverty blights the lives and denies the opportunities for thousands of local children, parents and families. Failure to address the importance of children’s early years and provide all the necessary support condemns generation after generation of working-class families to a life time of misery, underachievement, mental illness and lack of self-worth.