People Before Profit Councillor Shaun Harkin
Said Cllr Harkin: “If anyone needs further evidence of the rank hypocrisy and utter opportunism of the Stormont Executive they need to look no further than the response to People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll’s motion to cut and freeze private rent costs.
“SDLP MLA Mark Durkan says they were ‘daft’ to support the People Before Profit amendment aimed at helping people with rent bills amidst a spiralling cost of living crisis.
“The SDLP, Sinn Féin, the Ulster Unionists, Alliance and the DUP were all united in opposition to Carroll’s amendment to the Sinn Féin Communities Minister Private Tenancies Bill – but then voted for it.
“But now they’re scrambling to undo it. Why? Because they’re unwilling to take radical action to protect workers and the least well-off. And because, as Sam McBride has pointed out, the Stormont Assembly is a landlord’s parliament.
“All through the pandemic Westminster and Stormont were willing to take unprecedented urgent action to make sure elites and the politically connected were protected.
“Where is the urgency now to act on energy costs, housing costs and food costs? It simply isn’t there.
“Derry has 30% of people living below the poverty line. Sinn Féin and the SDLP dominate the Council and dominate Foyle representation in Stormont and Westminster.
“They aren’t willing to challenge a system that’s rigged in favour of elites and the politically connected.
“It’s clear we cannot trust or depend the mainstream parties to protect people at a crucial moment.
“We urge broad support for people power campaigns aimed at addressing spiralling inequality and for the building of a real alternative to the cynical Stormont carve-up.”
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