Causeway Trades’ Union Council hits out at ‘rich and poor’ budget

THE Causeway Trades’ Union Council has condemned the budget “that will do nothing to create jobs and has widened the gap between rich and poor”.

Causeway Trades’ Council Secretary Rodger Doherty said: “Once again we see a budget that will make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Nothing in this budget can give anyone confidence that these measures will create jobs or boost the local economy. In fact, this budget will have the opposite effect.

“This budget will see the elderly and the worst off in our society pay for tax cuts and incentives to benefit the wealthiest. We continue to see large scale job losses and lack of investment locally while the Government does nothing meaningful to re-energise the economy

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The additional £10 billion of health and welfare cuts the Government plans will punish the most vulnerable and lead to many more job losses in a community already over-reliant on public sector employment. In Coleraine alone job losses at the DVA and threats to jobs at Causeway Hospital will turn existing tax payers into benefit claimants.

“Pensioners who have worked, contributed and saved all of their working lives are being targeted to bear the brunt of these cuts. Already many pensioners are forced to choose between heating their homes and feeding themselves and now they face a cut in real terms of up £350 per year.”

Mr Doherty added: “When this government came to power Prime Minister David Cameron told us ‘we are all in this together’, but every cut has been to the detriment of workers, pensioners, the unemployed and the vulnerable. Yet the people who created this mess, the financial sector, continue to receive pay rises and huge bonuses.”