Eamonn McCann: '˜I'm wearing Bambi'

The Londonderry man made the admission on BBC’s Nolan Show this morning, during an interview in which he was outlining his party’s election manifesto.

Complimenting Mr McCann on his black leather jacket, interviewer Stephen Nolan said: “I wouldn’t look as good in that jacket you wear up at Stormont”, to which Mr McCann replied: “I bought it from a Nigerian gentleman; it is antelope skin. I’m wearing Bambi.”

When asked by Nolan if he supported the wearing of animal skin, Mr McCann added: “Oh dear, I shouldn’t have said this. I don’t support it in the sense of going out and cheering for it. I saw this jacket, I thought it was pretty good and it cost next to nothing.”

Meanwhile, Mr McCann addressed a number of points laid out in his party’s election literature.

The PBP manifesto states that where possible, food production in Northern Ireland should be considered for nationalisation

When asked what type of food would be nationalised, Mr McCann named poultry giant Moy Park – one of Northern Ireland’s largest private companies – as a “good example”.

He also advocated the banning of promotional advertising for food, added: “We have a massive industry promoting the consumption of food, not because it is nutritious and not because it is going to make you well, but because by promoting it a profit can be made.

“There should be no need to promote food. We all need food, we are all going to get food, so the idea of (promotional advertising) is an entirely artificial part of the way capitalism sells and commodifies everything.”

Mr McCann also said PBP wants to see changes to income tax and the rates system, adding: “We want the implementation of a progressive local income tax, but in the meantime we want to see a rates system linked to the ability to pay. We want rates linked to the income of the household.”

Addressing his party’s stance on health, Mr McCann said he would like to see private health care taken out of the health service.

He added: “Domiciliary care has in effect been taken over by the private sector. We want to bring domiciliary care back into the public sector and run it on the basis of need, not the basis of what profits can be made out of it.

“We need significantly more money going into the health service and significantly less going into wasteful projects like Trident and allowing large companies to get away with paying no tax.”

Claiming that PBP represented a different approach to politics in Northern Ireland, Mr McCann told the Nolan Show: “We are not claiming that if you vote for PBP it will mean the proposals in this manifesto would or could be delivered. This is a new way of approaching politics that you are not used to. It is outside the norm for Northern Ireland.”