Union prepared to 'bring NI to standstill' in welfare row
A major trade union has said it is prepared to bring Northern Ireland to a "standstill" to put pressure on Westminster and Stormont over planned changes to welfare payments.
In March the UK government announced moves aimed at saving £5bn a year in the benefits system by 2030.
The changes will make it harder for people with less severe conditions to claim disability payments.
Extra benefit payments for health conditions will also be frozen for current claimants and nearly halved for new applicants.
Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has defended the government's plan, insisting that the way the benefits system currently works is "unsustainable".
Patrick Mulholland, deputy general secretary of Nipsa (Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance), said unions were "not going to tolerate" the overhaul.
Speaking at a protest against the changes outside the Northern Ireland Office in Belfast, he said unions were prepared to bring Northern Ireland to a "standstill" if that was what it took to get Stormont to introduce mitigations to the new system.
"It's clear this is a political decision rather than a financial one," he said.
"We're going to fight to defend the welfare state...we do want to get the message across to Stormont - either they put pressure on central government and get money released or they prepare a package of mitigations so as ordinary people aren't crushed under the weight of these cuts."
The benefits system is devolved in Northern Ireland but in practice the Stormont administration mostly copies what is happening in England and Wales.
Stormont Communities Minister Gordon Lyons, of the Democratic Unionist Party, previously said the Northern Ireland Executive did not have the resources to mitigate Labour's plans.
Tony O'Reilly from Disabled People Against Cuts Northern Ireland said his group would continue to campaign to protect "human dignity and fairness".
"We are asking for quality of life - nothing more, nothing less. Do not leave millions of us in destitution," he added.
MPs from the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Alliance Party also attended the protest, alongside People Before Profit assembly member Gerry Carroll.
SDLP leader Claire Hanna said politicians would "fight with you as best we can", adding that what Labour had delivered since taking office in July was "far from the change" it had promised.
"It will leave people more demoralised than they were under the Conservatives," the Belfast South and Mid Down MP said.
Lagan Valley MP Sorcha Eastwood, of Alliance, said the changes were a "disgusting and vile attack" that was not being carried out in her name, while Carroll said Stormont needed to "grow a backbone" and introduce mitigations.
Stormont has previously acted to offset changes to benefits introduced in England, including the controversial bedroom tax.
But with this latest raft of incoming changes ministers have said they do not have the financial firepower to step in again.
Benn supports Labour's defence spending boost while cutting benefits
At-a-glance: Key changes to benefits in welfare shake-up
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Industrial strategy targets short-term pain for long-term gain
The government's industrial strategy aims to harness the best of British business, from automotive to video gaming via the City and life sciences, in order to deliver the economic growth on which all else depends. A year in the planning with a 10-year horizon for delivery, in its final months it was hijacked by a very short-term issue; how to give industries battered by the highest electricity prices in the world a chance of competing now, never mind the 2030s. The answer, as reported by Sky News last week, is a significant cut to bills not just for "energy intensive users" such as concrete and chemicals that already enjoy support, but to 7,000 manufacturers for whom energy is a high proportion of costs. Money latest: They will receive around 15% off their bills from 2027, at an estimated cost of £500m a year. Exactly who benefits will be decided after consultation but the mechanism for delivering discounts, and how they will be paid for, is already decided, and the answer tells us an awkward truth about the UK's energy market. To make industrial energy prices more competitive, qualifying businesses will be exempt from paying some of the taxes and levies added to bills to incentivise the building of renewable energy sources. These so-called "policy-costs", which make up around 15% of energy bills, have been fundamental to the massive expansion of wind and latterly solar power, supported by successive governments over the last two decades. This race for renewables is intended not just to lower emissions but to deliver more stable and, say Labour, cheaper bills by reducing our exposure to volatile gas prices. The UK has been hugely successful in the first part, and green technologies are one of the eight high-growth sectors favoured in this industrial strategy. Israel-Iran latest: Yet by choosing to discount "green levies", the government appears to be acknowledging that taxes intended to bring down bills tomorrow are driving prices up and making the UK uncompetitive today. It also raises the prospect that the heaviest energy users will pay less for the expansion of renewables intended to reduce emissions. Ministers say that, unlike previous industrial discounts, the cost of this one will not be passed on to other business or domestic customers. Instead, they say the funding will come from "headroom" created by extending price guarantees offered to renewable suppliers (known as Contracts for Difference) from 10 years to 15, and a "windfall" expected from linking UK carbon pricing to the EU system. If that sounds like the work of Treasury officials desperate to keep an unfunded £2bn off the books it may well be, but Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told Sky News the scheme is compatible with the country's long-term energy goals. He said: "You can do both things together, you can have ambition on climate and be competitive. These changes mean no one is going to have a higher bill to pay for this, no one will have to pay higher taxes to pay for this, but how those costs are represented in the system will change over time to make sure we have competitive industries. "There'll be no higher borrowing, no higher taxes and no higher bills from anyone else. And ultimately if we get the increase in investment and business activity I believe this could bring about, that produces a stronger economy overall."
Hamilton Spectator
19 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Mark Carney's minority government has an unexpected partner in the Conservatives — for now
OTTAWA—There's a new coalition in town. If the last Parliament was dominated by the Conservatives' insistence that the Liberal-NDP alliance had spun the country into an irreversible state of disarray, the opening weeks of the latest session has put a new pact on the map. 'It appears to me, and it remains to be seen, that (Prime Minister) Carney's new majority coalition is Liberal-Conservative, delivering Pierre Poilievre's policies with a more friendly face,' said the Green Party's Elizabeth May on Monday, as she raised the alarm over C-5, the Liberals' major projects bill. The Grit-Tory co-operation around that bill, which led to the proposed legislation being bulldozed through Parliament this week, prompted members of other federal parties to make the same dig. The Bloc Québécois warned of a 'new cross-party alliance,' while the NDP accused both parties of joining forces to steamroll over environmental protections and Indigenous rights. Of course, there is no actual coalition at play. But charges of one, combined with a fledgling Carney government pulling the Liberals away from the left, means the Conservatives must make a new case as to why they are still the top alternative in a post-Justin Trudeau world. 'Mark Carney is governing like a Progressive Conservative. So where's your opportunity?' said Tim Powers, a former Conservative strategist and chair of Summa Strategies. Carney's 'One Canadian Economy' bill, which proposes, in part, to grant Ottawa temporary powers to fast-track major resource and infrastructure projects, contains some promises that are not altogether different from what Poilievre pledged during this year's campaign. Rapidly spurring Canadian resource projects and accelerating approvals were key commitments in the Conservatives' platform, even if they were accompanied by other promises like scrapping the industrial carbon price and repealing the Liberals' contentious Impact Assessment Act. Bill C-5 is unlike any piece of legislation we have seen in Canada federally. Because Bill C-5 doesn't go that far, it doesn't have Poilievre's complete approval. And while his decision to be the Liberals' dance partner this week quickly drew the ire of other opposition parties, others believe it wasn't a damaging move. 'Canadians ultimately want them to work together,' said Shakir Chambers, a Conservative strategist and vice president at the public affairs firm Oyster Group. 'If you're going to co-operate on some things, co-operate on the things that you have been championing, even pre-election, to move forward and get them passed.' Powers said Poilievre now has heavyweights in his caucus like Edmonton Northwest MP Billy Morin, the former chief of Enoch Cree Nation, to push back against narratives that the Conservatives aren't attuned to concerns from Indigenous communities about the bill. MPs are expressing reservations about the push to fast-track major development projects. The Liberals, too, don't seem particularly bothered by the 'coalition' barbs. 'I don't take them very seriously,' London Centre Liberal MP Peter Fragiskatos told the Star. 'I'm very glad (the Conservatives) are coming to the game and playing a constructive role. It's been a very long time since they've done that,' Liberal MP and former House Speaker Greg Fergus said. Nevertheless, the early weeks of Canada's 45th Parliament have offered a few glimpses into where the Conservatives see their lines of attack. One emerged this week in the form of the Trudeau-era target that zero-emission vehicles should make up 20 per cent of new car sales starting in 2026, growing to 100 per cent by 2035. 'Well, somebody wants to tell you where to go and how to get there,' Poilievre said in a five-and-a-half minute video posted on social media Thursday. 'It's the Liberal government's new attempt to ban your gas-powered vehicles.' Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman introduced a defeated motion this week, calling on the Liberals to scrap the policy and posting on social media that 'the government has no place in the driveways of Canadians.' The policy is not a 'new attempt,' nor is it a flat-out 'ban' on gas-powered vehicles: it's a regulatory scheme aimed at incentivizing the sale of more EVs. 'That's another thing that Justin Trudeau was focused on,' Powers said. 'Guys, wake up! And girls. Justin Trudeau is gone. He's gone. There's a new Liberal leader, and he's not giving you much ammunition.' But Chambers said zeroing in on the EV mandate is a natural next step for a party focused on buoying the oil and gas sector. 'It's a good point to attack,' Chambers said. 'If you bring back … the industrial carbon tax issue, again, opposing the EV mandate kind of fits with that overall blanket of policy ideas.' Other issues the party focused on this week, such as bringing forward a motion imposing a lifetime ban on ArriveCAN contractor GCStrategies, were more successful. But Chambers said that the past few weeks of Parliament have mostly been a 'test run', and that Canadians are currently focused on more pressing issues like affordability, trade disruptions and international conflicts. That's where he says Poilievre's focus should lie as he prepares for a fall session, where it's expected that the Conservative leader will make his triumphant return to the House of Commons after a summer byelection, revamp his shadow cabinet with fresh faces, and set Carney's first federal budget in his sights. He'll also have to factor in the Conservative party's national convention, set to be held next January, where he will face a leadership review following his election loss. Powers said that by the time the calendar rolls over into September, he wants to see more 'maturity' from the party. 'I think Conservatives need to lead a little bit again in thought, not just in (social media) clip, and in meme,' Powers said. 'Poilievre's a smart fellow. How can he do that? Where can he put a marker down?'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Latest polling says if an election was held tomorrow Reform UK would win a majority
Since the local elections Reform UK has had no shortage of good polls. But a new one suggests Nigel Farage's party has a chance not only of winning the next election, but of claiming a decent Commons majority, too. In February, Reform topped a Sky News/YouGov poll for the first time, with Nigel Farage's party edging in front on 25%, Labour pushed into second on 24%, with the Tories on 21%. But a fresh one from Ipsos puts Reform on 34%, nine points ahead of Labour on 25%, with the Conservatives a distant third on 15%. While the other parties are flatlining, Reform appears to be pushing boundaries. Were these figures to be replicated across the country at a general election, with every constituency behaving the same way, then Reform could win as many as 340 seats, giving it a majority of 30, Sky News analysis suggests. Labour could be reduced to 176 seats, down 236 on last year's election, while the Tories would hit a record low of 12 seats. But polling should always be taken with a pinch of salt and with the firm acknowledgement that there is not an election coming any time soon. Conservative backbenchers might also tell you publicly that opinion polls are notoriously difficult to translate into seat numbers because voting percentages in individual constituencies can vary hugely from the overall average. But the truth is that the symbolism of Reform UK topping another poll is likely to be noticed by MPs from all parties, especially backbench Conservatives who have actively been hoping their leader, Kemi Badenoch, can help them climb the polls and bring the party back into public favour. Politics is a brutal game and when it comes to toppling underwhelming party leaders, the Tories are more ruthless than most. One wonders how many of these polls Mrs Badenoch's party will allow her to endure. Read more: This poll is also a warning to Labour. As the party approaches a year since its major victory, it will not have much to celebrate if these numbers are anything to go by. According to this survey, only 19% are satisfied with the job Sir Keir Starmer is doing as prime minister, with 73% dissatisfied. And the figure of 25% of voters intending to vote Labour is a level not seen since October 2019. While abstract to much of the public, polling can often shape not only the chatter inside Westminster but how and when plots by MPs begin. For Reform UK, this is a much-needed morale boost after a surprise resignation by their former Chairman Zia Yusuf, and then an almost immediate U-turn back into the party. And Kemi Badenoch - who said during her leadership campaign that the Conservatives needed to go back to first principles and that this would take time - will be wondering, seven-and-a-half months after winning the leadership, how much time she really has left.
