Stormont Assembly failing ordinary people

national | miscellaneous | other press Friday September 25, 2009 15:22 by Shorty

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An interesting article which produces facts to show that the Assembly in the North is literally not working for ordinary people.

I was recently sent this article which was originally posted on the éirígi website on September 15th. (see link below to full article)
It certainly reveals quite a number of facts of how the northern Assembly at Stormont is failing ordinary people. I found the figures relating to unemployment quite shocking - particularly as only half of those recognised as seeking work are actually included in official government figures released for public consumption.
It was very telling that article's author was able to cite independent research complied by Age Concern and the Help the Aged which supports the claim that the Stormont's politicians and officials are massaging the full extent of the impact of the economic crisis.
Equally enlightening was the highlighting in the article of the increasing wages gap between the "haves" and "have nots" in the North.
Its clear that while the northern Assembly may have delivered peace, it certainly hasn't delivered anything for working people or the less off.
Given that this week, Sammy Wilson as the Assembly's Finance Minister was publicly seeking spending cuts across all departments, it would appear that there are very bleak times ahead for working class people. And all this before the British government introduce expected cuts of up to 10% in public expenditure next year.
I would recommend that the article be widely circulated on various mailings lists as it is a fairly damning indictment of all of the parties in the Assembly and how they are hiding their failure to deliver real change to people's lives.