People Before Profit Cllr Shaun Harkin said,
“Listening to DUP MLA Gary Middleton wax lyrical about his concern for workers and vulnerable people who will be thrown into hardship by the Tory Universal Credit cut is like being in an alternate universe. The DUP propped up the Tories and voted for the Stormont Executive to implement devastating welfare reform. The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
It’s now crunch time for the entire Stormont Executive. We need less concern and more action. If the Tories can’t be forced into a U-turn on the Universal Credit cut, People Before Profit is demanding the Executive agree to step in with funding to protect workers and the vulnerable.
The Executive should commit to do this today. We are demanding the Executive start their much hyped ‘anti-poverty strategy’ now instead of leaving it to gather dust on a shelf for another decade.
Social security is a devolved matter. Protecting Universal Credit claimants from this cut should be the first step in completely undoing and overhauling criminal welfare reforms brought in and implemented by the Executive in the first place.
Our benefits system isn’t fit for purpose. People on Universal Credit have been punished. Capita corporation has done immense damage to PIP claimants but still got a contract extension from the DfC Minister that’s worth tens of millions. The ‘Sounding the Alarm’ report from advice workers demonstrated how completely inadequate our present system is.
People Before Profit will be joining trade unions, community organisations and social safety net campaigners to put maximum pressure on the Stormont Executive to break from the Tory approach of enriching elites while workers and the vulnerable are punished.”
