Alliance Carickfergus Councillor Stewart Dickson has reacted to news that it is expected that 99 people could be made redundant at the Ryobi car parts factory in Carrickfergus. He has stated that it would be a devastating blow for the local economy if these jobs were to go.
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Alliance Chief Whip Kieran McCarthy has stated that every time the Executive has a tough decision to make, they end up in disarray. He said that Northern Ireland needs stable government not brinkmanship. His comments come after Minister Margaret Ritchie and the SDLP issued threats about their future in the Executive and were angry about the financing of yesterday’s Executive winter fuel measures.
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Roy Beggs, Ulster Unionist MLA has welcomed yet another DUP U-turn contained within the December monitoring round when the Finance Minister lessen the likelihood of NI Block funding being returned to the Treasury when the Finance Minster reversed his predecessors decision and increased the level of over commitment.
Ulster Unionist Mid-Ulster MLA Billy Armstrong has attended a Stormont breakfast event to demonstrate public support for the Northern Ireland pork industry.
Alliance Enterprise Spokesperson Seán Neeson MLA has welcomed the announcement of cuts to gas and electricity rates but said he is unhappy that Northern Ireland Electricity will not be reviewing prices until the autumn. He has called for NIE to be brought before the Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee.
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So how has she performed in her first 50-odd days? Well, looking at her website we see a great raft of activities. Yes the most recent post on her front page is 20 October, when she was soaped by the parliamentary hearing.
Digging a bit deeper, however, we see that she has indeed done a couple of things since then. She was at a conference in Brussels on 28 October, then then she spoke to a bunch of Russian industrialists in Cannes on 13 November – a meeting that would have been organised when everybody thought that Peter Mandelson was still the Commissioner.
“Peter where do you want to meet up with some Russian industrialists?”
“Oh I don’t know, shall we go to Corfu?”
“No, Peter, that was your summer holiday, and it has to take place in France – they do hold the Presidency, you know”.
“Well, I guess it will have to be Cannes then. After all, how am I going to get invited on their yachts if we do it inland?”
We wonder if the baroness went on any of their yachts? How they must be missing Peter!
Next up is an article for the Wall Street Journal on the 22 November, written, no doubt, by a member of her Cabinet.
Hot foot from that tiring engagement, she issued a joint communiqué to the ACP in Abidjan on the 26 November and visited Paris on the 27 November. Finally, she turned up here in the Parliament to talk to the Trade Committee on 2 December (a key promise at her October hearing).
And for this we pay her tens of thousands of pounds a month?
Better still are the media activities of DG Trade. It appears that half the press statements are being made by her spokesman, Peter Power. Now we know that spokesmen are often quoted in the press, but it is very weird indeed for the press release to be from the monkey rather than the organ grinder.
Where is she, and what is she doing?
Stephen Timms MP, Labour’s Treasury Minister, responding to David Cameron’s comments in today’s Telegraph, said: “Unless the Conservatives can explain how they will pay for this commitment, it remains an empty promise - for all Cameron’s warm words he opposed Labour’s measures to give real help now to pensioners. The fact remains the Tories would do nothing to help families and business. “Cameron cannot hide the fact that he is a do nothing leader of a do nothing party. The Labour Government is giving all pensioners real support through the tough times, including giving every pensioner £60 in January - a measure that the Tories opposed.”…
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Alliance South Belfast MLA Anna Lo has shown her support with Zimbabweans currently living in Northern Ireland on the humanitarian crisis currently happening in Zimbabwe. She attended a demonstration organised by the Zimbabwe Solidarity Campaign outside Belfast City Hall.
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Libertas leader Declan Ganley has announced that his Libertas party will contest the election in the UK and other EU states as well as Ireland.
The announcement came on the same day as the Irish government said it was prepared in principle to hold a second referendum on the constitutional treaty, rejected by voters last June, after receiving guarantees from Brussels.
Mr Farage said: “I’m a little surprised that Libertas want to stand in the UK its policy seems almost the same as David Cameron’s Conservatives.
“Libertas just wants some change and reform within the EU. I cannot see, given that UKIP is committed to the UK being an independent country, that we have anything in common at all.”
Mr Farage says UKIP knows that reform from within the EU is impossible and that the only course for the UK is to leave the political union and negotiate a free trade agreement.
“Libertas as I understand it, would be campaigning for staying inside the EU and negotiating from that position of weakness. This is completely different to our long-held position, which is that we must withdraw from the EU. That will be the position of strength from which we can decide our own way.”
He added: “Remember this – no one listened to the Dutch about the constitution, no one listened to the French. No one is listening to the Irish now over the Lisbon Treaty. Anyone trying to reform from within will simply be ignored again, which is why we have to leave: only then will they pay attention.”
Mr Farage said UKIP was the only party offering the UK a referendum on Europe to take the place of the one promised but never delivered by the Labour government.
Pensioners are set for a £4 billion boost next year as the Labour Government confirmed the biggest rise in the Basic State Pension since 2001 today, on top of £900m in Christmas Bonuses and a £575m increase in Winter Fuel Payments. From April, the State Pension will go up by 5%, ensuring someone on a full pension will see their weekly income go up from £90.70 to £95.25. Ministers also confirmed that Pension Credit will increase by the highest amount ever, up from £124.05 to £130 per week. The Labour Government confirmed today that most National Insurance benefits will rise by 5 per cent, and most income-related benefits will be uprated by 6.3 per cent, providing real support to people in the current economic climate. Labour’s Minister for Pensions and the Ageing Society, Rt Hon Rosie Winterton MP said: “In these tough times, the Government will continue to give real help to pensioners. “I want to do all we can to help those pensioners on the lowest incomes, and the increase in Pension Credit will mean that we can lift even more people out of poverty. We have also made it easier and quicker for those eligible for Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit to get what they are entitled to.” The increases follow additional help announced in the Pre-Budget Report where eligible pensioners will have their Christmas Bonus increased for this winter from the traditional £10 to £70. This will be on top of the increased Winter Fuel Payments…
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Basil McCrea MLA, Ulster Unionist Party Spokesperson for Education has talked of his disappointment at Sinn Fein's reluctance to support the Education Committee's recommendations to the Department to commit long-term funding for the Bookstart Programme. The Bookstart programme provides young children and their families with free packs of books plus tips and ideas for parents on how to enjoy sharing books together and the benefits of this activity. It is based on a partnership involving health professionals, Library staff, Early Years, educators and Sure Start staff.
Lagan Valley Alliance MLA Trevor Lunn has launched his Winter Fuel Trust, which will help older people in most need heat their homes during the winter.
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Alliance Health Spokesperson Kieran McCarthy MLA has welcomed news of £60 million funding in health announced by Minister Michael McGimpsey, but said that massive concerns over the closure of residential care homes in the Western Health Trust area remain.
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Labour’s Work and Pensions Minister, James Purnell, has revealed the new welfare reform white paper - ‘Raising Expectations and Increasing Support: Reforming Welfare for the Future’ - which sets out plans for more support to enable those out of work to overcome problems in return for greater responsibility. Labour is offering real help now during the global downturn and reforming welfare for the long term to help people make the most of their potential. This stands in stark contrast to the Conservatives. We are giving real help now to people. The Tories are the do nothing party and would let people sink or swim. This White Paper sets out a vision for a fairer welfare state - where no one is left behind and everyone is given personalised support they need to get back to work. We will: * Give real help to disabled people with more benefits money; more funding to help with back to work adaptations; and a new right to control the state support they get. * Give earlier back to work help to workless parents, personalised to their lives. * Help people off incapacity benefits through personalised support to get well and get back to work. * This will be funded by a new invest to save funding mechanism, using money that would have been spent on benefits to give people the support they need. * Support parental responsibility, lifting more children out of poverty. * Ensure work for all through ‘Work for Dole’ after 2…
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Responding to recent media reports, Ulster Unionist Deputy Leader Danny Kennedy has asked the DUP why they have become so obsessed with the Ulster Unionist Party Annual Conference.
In a debate on the House of Lords European Union Committee, Lord Pearson said there were two reasons for querying the usefulness of the committee and its sub-committees.
“First, we have the continuing scandal of the government having promised not to sign up to any new law in Brussels when it is still under scrutiny in the committee of either House of Parliament, but breaking that promise or overriding the scrutiny reserve, no fewer than 180 times in the Lords and 157 times in the Commons between 2003 and June 2006.
“That is 337 new laws that have been passed into law in this country in breach of the wishes of Parliament. I have tabled a Written Question to find out what has happened since.”
Lord Pearson went on: “However, perhaps the main reason for querying the usefulness of this committee was revealed in a series of Written Answers in the previous Session to my noble friends Lord Tebbit and Lord Vinson.
“They asked how often a recommendation of either House’s Select Committee had been incorporated into EU legislation in Brussels. After much prevarication about disproportionate cost and so on, the Government could come up with only one example, on 10 March 2008, when they revealed that your Lordships’ committee’s,
‘recommendations on a restricted scope and the country of origin principle were incorporated into the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (amending the Television Without Frontiers Directive)’.”
Lord Pearson said there might be other examples in which the views of Lords’ Select Committees had been accepted in Brussels, but they must be very few, and he wondered whether it was worth continuing.
Speaking ahead of the launch of the Human Rights Commission’s advice to the Secretary of State regarding the scope of a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland, Alliance Party Justice and Human Rights Spokesperson, Stephen Farry, has stressed the importance of the process having cross-community support.
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This Conference believes that sustaining and promoting the constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom is in the best social and economic interest of all its citizens, especially against the rise of Scottish, Irish, Welsh and Ulster Nationalists.
Labour’s Schools Secretary Ed Balls has set out more details of plans for New York style School Report Cards, which will give parents a clearer picture of school performance. Both national and international evidence over the past ten years has shown that accountability is the key driver of change. As the Labour Government moves towards realising its vision of the 21st Century School it is therefore vital that there is a 21st Century system of accountability for schools to reflect their wider remit. This will be realised in part by the new School Report Card. Under the new scheme, parents will get regular, easy to understand information on how their child’s school is performing. This will inform parents’ choice of school and improve schools’ accountability to parents while providing a single, clear set of outcomes against which schools will be judged. School Report Cards, similar to the model used by New York state, will begin to be piloted next year after a consultation with schools, local authorities, parent, pupils and others next summer. Categories of performance in the School Report Card could include: * Attainment of pupils * How pupils progress while at a school * Wider outcomes such as pupils’ health, enjoyment, opportunity and ability to make a positive contribution, and prospects of future economic well-being * Schools’ efforts to raise the achievement of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of pupils. * Parents’ and pupils’ satisfaction Labour’s Schools Secretary Ed Balls said: “There is lots of useful information out there…
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Ulster Unionist MLA and environment spokesman Roy Beggs Jnr has encouraged the Assembly Commission to purchase its electricity from renewable sources and to investigate installing a wind turbine within the extensive Stormont Estate.
