‘We can fight cuts’ – Brady | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

‘We can fight cuts’ – Brady

Sinn Féin MP Mickey Brady told a packed public meeting in Westminster on Tuesday that the Good Friday Agreement must be protected from the Tories.

 Mickey Brady addresses Westminster meeting with party colleague Paul Maskey

Mickey Brady addresses Westminster meeting with party colleague Paul Maskey

Speaking to a large crowd that included MPs from various parties, members of the Irish community, the trade union representatives and representatives from a number of international embassies, Brady said that the north needed stability and Tory cuts were threatening that stability.

“Direct rule would be disastrous for the people of the north,” he warned. “All that has been gained in the Assembly, whether that’s free travel for the over 60s, no prescription charges, lower tuition fees, holding off the worst excesses of the Tory welfare reform cuts; all of this would go if there was direct rule.

“While it is far from perfect the Good Friday Agreement has created a society which is more stable and is attracting more jobs and investment into the north. That has to be defended and built on.”

The local MP said the north was different from Britain and had a ‘specific set of circumstances and needs’. “We have higher rates of deprivation and poverty. We are not a post-conflict society. We are a society coming out of conflict – which is an important distinction.”

“It’s not just Sinn Féin saying that the north is different. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has released a paper outlining why the north is different, presenting a strong argument underlining the particular circumstances of the north in terms of economic deprivation and social problems, and the devastating impact of Tory cuts on a people coming out of conflict.

Brady added, “Simply put; Tory cuts are threatening the institutions and stability. On the threatened tax credit cuts, some 120,000 families will be affected by the proposed cuts. And make no mistake, Cameron may have backed off tax credits for the moment but that issue has not gone away but it shows that if we unite we can fight this.”

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Posted by on Nov 6 2015. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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