NI Conservatives’ co-chair, Trevor Ringland, has urged the Executive to “do the right thing for Northern Ireland, by pushing ahead with welfare reform”.
“Mike Penning, the minister of state at work and pensions, has been putting the case today for Stormont to get on with passing this legislation and he is absolutely right”, Trevor explained. “There are two very strong reasons why ministers should agree to act immediately. Firstly, we need urgently a system which breaks dependency on benefits, combats poverty and provides fairness for taxpayers. Secondly, Westminster currently pays Northern Ireland’s welfare bill directly on the understanding that we share a similar set-up, and we simply cannot afford the huge amount of money which ‘breaking parity’ with the rest of the UK will cost our block grant.”
“The government has, yet again, shown great sensitivity to our special circumstances by agreeing to tailor aspects of reform to Northern Ireland. That means, for example, special provisions where it comes to the spare room subsidy. We simply cannot expect to duck making difficult decisions like this, while the rest of the UK gets on with it. Most importantly, we can’t be left behind on welfare reform, because it plainly isn’t acceptable to condemn more generations here to dependency on benefits. It’s time for the Executive to show some maturity and get on with passing this legislation through the Assembly, for everyone in Northern Ireland.”