Gerry Carroll
West Belfast · People Before Profit Alliance · Northern Ireland
“Yesterday morning, as others did, I stood alongside our resident doctors as they commenced a 24-hour period of industrial action. We often praise our healthcare workers in the House and more generally, saying things such as that they are invaluable and that we wish them well.”
“If we have learnt anything from the political events of the past week, it is that powerful people — powerful men, in particular — and institutions should always be held to maximum account when it comes to abuse, neglect and victims, and that victims and survivors should be believed and supported on every occasion.”
“Agency spend has, again, gone through the roof and is sky-high; locum spend has gone up and continues to go up — it has gone up by in the region of £0·5 billion over the past few years; and, almost every single year out of the past five to 10 years, hundreds of millions of pounds of public money have been pumped into the for-profit privat…”
“With bills increasing month-on-month and year-on-year, that is true, and those workers need a proper settlement that meets their needs and the ever-increasing cost of living. One striking doctor put it to me starkly yesterday. They said that they left Scotland and took a more senior position in the health sector in Belfast.”
“I commend Stephen and his colleagues in the Bill Office and the Executive Office officials, who worked closely with me to try to support, amend or help along my amendments — whatever way you want to look at it. I also want to commend the Member for Fermanagh and South Tyrone who spoke out during the last few stages.”
“I commend people for speaking out on the issue, especially Sharon Burke. I think that she might be in the Gallery. She has been emailing Members on that issue.”
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“Let me speak. The Member has a disgraceful track record of sticking the boot into asylum seekers whilst talking about the housing crisis, so I am loath to give way to his pretty disgraceful agenda. The Member should not kick down. The Member is happy to kick migrants and asylum seekers but he does not have a word to say about billionaires and corporations that are ripping people off. Less of that. Less of that.”
“Yes. I am happy to engage with that argument despite —.”
“I will give way in a second. <BR /> <BR />Those parties lament rates rises for ordinary people and households, but they are happy for corporations to be given millions of pounds of handouts every single year while their profit margins, assets, numbers — call them what you want — rise. I will give way.”
“<BR /> <BR />The North, disgracefully, is the only part of these islands that gives multinational corporations rate relief. Parties in this Building lament —.”
“Great economics from the sidelines from the party that does not want to tax corporations. <BR /> <BR />Over the past decade, the Executive have handed £125 million to just one private hospital to tackle our health waiting lists. The DUP supported that handout as well. It seems like there is an endless pit of money to line the pockets of the rich but never enough money for a decent social security system, fair pay, social housing, mental health services and our collapsing education system. It is the same old story, whether it is the Tories, Labour or this Executive. This island is a hostile environment for working-class communities, but it is a safe haven for multimillion-pound corporations such as Apple, Google and many others.”
“I do recognise that, yes. I also recognise assets and that companies and corporations have combined wealth through their assets and profit from them. Those are all bound together, and it depends what column you are looking at. Money is money, and there is billions there.”
“OK. <BR /> <BR />Six companies in the North have a turnover of £1 billion. The top 100 companies in the North have a turnover of £35 billion. We are not talking about taxing corner shops. There is an abundance of corporate wealth here, including wealth that has been accumulated by private companies that deliver what are supposed to be public services.”
“Since 2015, the North has had the power to set corporation tax rates, but the conversation is dominated by calls, mainly from the business lobby and its enablers, to lower corporation tax rather than being about the social good, proper taxation and the rich paying their way. People Before Profit has always been clear that corporation tax should be raised in the North. It should not be controversial to say that corporations should pay at least the same amount of tax as people pay on their wages. I will give way to anybody who wants to disagree on that point.”
“Earlier this month, the Assembly passed a motion supporting tax increases for the super-wealthy, which I spoke on and supported. It is to be welcomed that some parties are finally in step with ordinary people, who have long demanded that the rich pay their way for our public services. The Executive, however, always seem to direct their focus solely at Westminster and never towards the wealthy and powerful at our front door, who do exist.”
“People Before Profit is with you every single step of the way.”
“<BR /> <BR />Among all the spoofing, and when you clear the smoke, you find that the reality is that trans people are more likely to experience violence than most of the population. Some people should listen to this point when I say that, for decades, the women's movement has challenged the idea that biology is destiny. Now, we are being dragged back to an oppressive gender binary, which should be resisted. Most ordinary people do not want any part in that reactionary fantasy. My message to the trans and non-binary communities is solidarity. My message to those kicking down is this: stop your obsession with other people's genitalia. It is bizarre, unhealthy and is damaging people's lives. Fair play to the activists who have already come out to protest against that shocking court decision. Do not stop the fight.”
“Despite attempts to talk up the Supreme Court decision by saying how it may help women, it will do nothing of the sort. Discriminating against trans people will not end the epidemic of violence against women and girls, which is usually caused by a family member or an ex-partner, who is most often a male. Taking rights from the trans community will not offer affordable or free childcare to anybody. It will not offer reproductive healthcare or any other material benefit for women who are facing oppression. The war on trans rights is being waged by far right and reactionary forces in Britain and Ireland that do not give a damn about women or any oppressed people on these islands. Unfortunately, the Executive are following suit by cruelly banning puberty blockers for the under-18s. That ban is a form of state violence.”
“That decision has been a lightning rod for people who want to kick the trans community, and, unfortunately, we heard a lot of that in the House yesterday. Huge fear and anxiety exist in the trans community not only because of years of onslaughts, misrepresentation and bigotry but because of that shocking decision by the UK Supreme Court. <BR /> <BR />Whilst in theory the Equality Act 2010 does not apply in the North, which is a point that was emphasised in the House, one council in this jurisdiction has already jumped the gun and wants to implement provisions of the Supreme Court ruling. My message to that council is that its decision will put people at risk, especially the trans community, so it should retreat and retract.”
“As was discussed in the House yesterday, the UK Supreme Court ruled last week that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.”
“Thank you, Minister. You mentioned the fact that the changing of the eligibility criteria for schools to avail themselves of the RAISE funding has seen some opposition. I noticed that that matter was raised at the meeting. Following on from your answer to the Member for South Down, will you clarify whether you are saying that schools in West Belfast and beyond that could not initially avail themselves of the funding can now do so? If that is correct, it is a change of position that would be welcomed.”
“There is no doubt that there are some positives in the announcement, some of which were detailed in my trade union freedom Bill many years ago. I am happy to have played a part in helping the Department and Minister to make decisions. However, there are gaps already. 'New Decade, New Approach' promised an outright ban on zero-hours contracts, but the statement does not have one: will you explain that? Will you also clarify what is meant by "genuinely seasonal or casual work"?”
“Minister, you are probably aware that there are cities in Britain and parts of Dublin in which there is a litany of Airbnbs but few, if any, are registered. It is concerning, Minister, that you do not believe that the planning system should be used to crack down on the use of Airbnbs and short-term holiday lets. Will you reconsider that position, given the lack of permanent housing stock and the scale of the housing crisis that so many people are facing?”
“The Executive need to break from Westminster's economic rule, stand up to Keir Starmer's attempts to impose a new era of austerity and refuse to implement cuts that will devastate working-class communities across the North. Otherwise, there will be another decade of misery, poverty and crises in public services.”
“Last week, the House passed a motion calling for tax increases for the superwealthy. There was clear consensus that, rather than punishing the poor, there are more progressive ways of raising revenue for our public services. One of the options is to complete the devolution of corporation tax. Instead of arguing to cut it, the Executive should fight to raise corporation tax on corporate giants that are raking in record profits. <BR /> <BR />Giving due regard to the findings of the reports cannot just mean business as usual, nor can it mean the Executive forcing ordinary working-class people to foot the bill for water charges.”
“The Budget will not allow us to do both: £95 million of transformation funding from the restoration package has already been diverted into day-to-day spending. For as long as we are handed paltry Budgets from Westminster, we will never be able to invest in transformation. <BR /> <BR />Despite much of what the media and the political class tell us, the answers to our financial crisis are not water charges or rates increases. Ordinary people have already been punished enough. A 5% regional rate increase is being implemented as part of this Budget with absolutely no improvement in the delivery of services to justify it. At least 35,000 people in the North have been impacted on by the Labour Government's cuts to personal independence payment (PIP) and universal credit.”
“In the face of this crisis, one-off emergency rescue packages simply will not cut it, and neither will single-year Budgets. What is urgently needed is long-term, sustainable and predictable funding based on people's needs. The 124% uplift in funding from Westminster to the North is clearly not enough to avert a catastrophe for our public services. We need to transform the way in which our public services are delivered, so that they are sustainable, high-quality and dependable for current and future generations. We need to make progress on transformation while maintaining day-to-day services. I emphasise this question: transformation for whom? It should be for people, not to satisfy the austerity wolves in the Treasury or Number 10.”
“People who cannot afford to go private wait months or years for a first appointment with a consultant. Mental health needs are 40% greater here than they are in Britain, and the North recently held the world record for prescribing the most antidepressants per head of population. There is a backlog of at least a year for major court cases. School classrooms are crumbling or infested with black mould. Up to 80% of schools are operating at a deficit.”
“The earmarked allocations for childcare, for ending violence against women and for social housing are all a drop in the ocean compared with what is needed. I support the motion, but there is another report that the Finance Minister should take note of, which is the NI Affairs Committee's report on the North's public services. To no one's surprise, that Committee found that our public services are crippled by inadequate funding, a lack of reform and political instability. That is not news to my constituents and many others. <BR /> <BR />The slow and dramatic collapse of health and social care and education is having a disastrous impact on people's quality of life. Ordinary people did not need a report to tell them that our public services are at breaking point, because they experience that every day.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for using the grace time. It is important to hear everybody's voice, and I appreciate that you have done that. <BR /> <BR />The obvious question for people here to consider is this: how many more reports do we need to read on the failure of our Budgets to meet people's needs? How many more reports need to be published in order to explain how our public services are at breaking point, which they certainly are? Despite a mounting pile of evidence, the Executive parties, which complain about Westminster austerity, insist on implementing Westminster's austerity Budgets. <BR /> <BR />The links between the Budget and the Executive's stated priorities in the Programme for Government are weak at best.”
“I thank the First Minister for giving way. Did the deputy First Minister make it clear anywhere in the Executive what type of commissioner she and her party would be supportive of?”
“<BR /> <BR />I will certainly not oppose the legislation, but my concern is the lack of action that will probably come from the commissioner's role being established. I will be happy to be proven wrong on that point.”
“Despite the important legislation passed in 2022, it is clear that the Executive are moving at a snail's pace whilst the planet heats up. We have had the hottest years on record over the past 10 years or so. That is the evidence that people should be referring to and looking at. We are seeing extreme weather patterns in summer and winter. Climate change will lead to devastation across the world, including here, and particularly for poorer people in the Global South. I care about those people, even if some in the House do not. Locally, we have continuous environmental destruction; habitat destruction; gorse fires; unsafe and unhealthy meat farming; and waste dumping, whether at Mobuoy or in our waters of Lough Neagh, Belfast lough and elsewhere.”
“<BR /> <BR />Given what we have heard from one Executive party, I am concerned that the Executive have the power to include a clause to allow the office to continue to function in the event of a vacancy or defect in the appointment or reappointment. So, if somebody leaves the commissioner role because they are prevented from acting by the DUP or anybody else, how do we know that the person who is fulfilling that role will be operating independently? I question whether the regulations will allow fairness to take hold. <BR /> <BR />There are more questions than clarity in the legislation. I urge the First Minister and the Executive to move at speed to ensure that there is an independent environmental protection agency (EPA) and that the legislation comes through urgently.”
“That is not quite coming out of the traps fighting, to put it mildly. On the role of the commissioner, it also states that the commissioner, going back to my earlier point, will provide advice and recommendations to Departments on how to manage the transition to a net zero economy. As part of that, I emphasise the point that the commissioner engage with a range of stakeholders, whether it be the farming community, businesses or the community sector. The commissioner will have to engage across the board. It may look like innocuous stuff at first glance, but I believe that that will give cover to inaction, which will be presented as the farming community being opposed to this, that and the other, even though most farmers, despite protests from the big agri sector, need and want to see climate action.”
“The previous contribution would have been a good comedy act if the issue were not so serious: the future of the planet and life itself on it. Obviously, there is a need for a robust Climate Commissioner with teeth to act and enforce a change of policy and action, but I remain unconvinced that this legislation will actually achieve that. The legislation states that the commissioner will provide advice and recommendations to Departments here on how to manage the transition to a net zero economy. Providing advice and recommendations is all that they are allowed to do. The obvious question is this: will the Executive actually act on those recommendations? Other activists will be asking that as well. <BR /> <BR />The CCC letter states:”
“I thank the Member for giving way. Is the Member concerned that gorse fires are happening generally but also, seemingly, there is no record kept of how many occur? Leaving aside whether it should happen at all, there is a requirement for farmers to notify the Department before a gorse fire. Beyond two applications for consent in the past five years, no record is kept of people notifying the Department. Does the Member have any concerns about that?”
“I appreciate the Member's giving way. As I indicated, I am minded to support his party's amendment because, importantly, it talks about a mitigation package, which is crucial. Will he explain why his party's amendment removed the call for tax increases for the superwealthy? That is a bugbear for me and others.”
“I hope that the Minister will make that commitment in his remarks.”
“Multimillion-pound companies like Coca-Cola, Moy Park, Caterpillar and Kingspan get rate relief to the tune of £73 million a year. Scrapping industrial derating would raise millions of pounds, but nobody, apart from me, is talking about it. <BR /> <BR />We could also complete the devolution of corporation tax in order to raise revenue. By doing so, the wealthiest corporations, those who are most able to pay, would foot the bill for mitigations. Not only can we afford those mitigations; we cannot afford not to implement them. It is a shame that the amendment has omitted references to a wealth tax. It is important to do both. Executive parties need to apply massive, maximum pressure to challenge wealth at Westminster and commit, in the here and now, to find the money to mitigate those cuts in the North today.”
“People understand that it is fundamentally unfair that workers are taxed on their earned income while the rich who own capital and generate unearned income get off, essentially, scot-free. <BR /> <BR />Rachel Reeves also doubled down on those inhumane cuts last week. It is safe to assume that thousands of people in the North will be impacted on sooner rather than later. That is why it is important to support the amendment that has been tabled by the SDLP. We have the powers and precedent already to mitigate those cuts, but Executive parties have wasted no time projecting the narrative that there is no money for more mitigations. It is time for a conversation about revenue raising, this time from the rich and wealthy.”
“The motion refers to a wealth tax, which is welcome. It is worth saying that a 2% tax on assets worth £10 million or more would raise £24 billion per year. Equalising capital gains tax and income tax would raise over £16 billion per year. However, Labour and the Tories are complete fiscal conservatives. They have shown no interest in the redistributive power of taxes. Thankfully, public pressure for a wealth tax is growing, as evidenced by the motion. <BR /> <BR />A poll by YouGov and Oxfam that was published just before the spring statement shows that 77% — a clear majority — of people across the UK would rather that the Government taxed the wealthy instead of making spending cuts.”
“The Chancellor's talk about a black hole in the Budget and the national credit card's being maxed out is calculated and misleading language that suggests that there is simply no alternative to the current economic orthodoxy. Austerity is a false economy. It was unnecessary 15 years ago and is unnecessary today. <BR /> <BR />The Labour Government have another agenda at play. We are witnessing, as we have heard, the dismantling of the welfare state in service of a warfare state. Taking money from the pockets of sick and disabled people here and in England, Scotland and Wales to invest in defence spending and the local manufacturing of weapons is morally repugnant. <BR /> <BR />The national credit card is not being maxed out for war; it is just being passed around the wallets of the wealthy. Our money is in the wrong hands.”
“Many people who rely on social security are already in work. The majority of people on benefits are already in work. Labour's benefit cuts will result in actual job losses, making a total mockery of their supposed concern for economic inactivity, which is usually a code word for kicking the poor. It is no coincidence that the savings made as a result of the cuts match the shortfalls in Labour's self-imposed fiscal targets, which is more proof, if it were needed, that it was never about supporting people into work. It looks like these benefit cuts are the first steps down a well-worn path to austerity with a red rosette. <BR /> <BR />Austerity is an ideological and political weapon used to hammer the poor in order to protect the rich.”
“We are now staring down the barrel of another mental health crisis. The mental health champion has warned that slashing social security and removing the safety net of social security may drive more and more people to suicide. In the Long Gallery today, some of us heard from the Samaritans about the shocking and compelling evidence on the links between poverty, inequality and suicide, and I thank it for its research and its work. <BR /> <BR />Experts are warning Westminster and Stormont that this welfare reform is punitive and cruel. The last round of austerity led to hundreds of thousands of excess deaths. My concern, and that of many others, is that austerity 2.0 will be the same. The cuts will only cost more money in the long term, with even more pressure on the NHS and the labour market.”
“I welcome the motion and what appears to be a new policy direction for the Alliance Party towards the redistribution of wealth. It is something that I genuinely support. Wealth taxes are often brushed off and even laughed at by some in this Building, so it is a welcome change in policy. <BR /> <BR />Tens of thousands of people in the North will be impacted on by Labour's cruel and callous benefit cuts that were announced recently. As we heard, at least 35,000 people will be impacted on by changes to PIP alone. That is a devastating loss of income for the most vulnerable in our society; that is, people with disabilities. According to DWP's figures, a quarter of a million sick and disabled people across the UK will be forced into poverty and destitution. Those are the Government's own figures. That includes 50,000 children.”
“I thank the Member for the answer. The Member will know that concerns have been raised about general job losses with this form of cleaning. What guarantees have been sought by the Commission to ensure that Aramark does not cut jobs? Cleaners in the Building have lost hours. If further hours are cut in the future, will the cleaners be financially compensated for those lost and cut hours?”
“Does the Minister agree that it is important to centre the voices and experiences of the black community in Ireland and America when there is talk about the Declaration of Independence anniversary?”
“I remind the Minister that it was slave revolts that ended slavery in the primary sense. Former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who toured this island and whose statute is in Belfast, stated:”
“Minister, hundreds of thousands of people will expect you not to do Labour's bidding by implementing the cuts. I hope that you will say today that you will not. Given the fact that there are no rent caps in the private rented sector, hundreds of millions of pounds from the welfare budget is going on private rented accommodation. Is that something that is being looked at to cover a mitigation fund to protect people from universal credit (UC) cuts?”
“Does the Minister agree that it is insulting to say to Irish speakers, "It's OK to speak Irish at home or in an Irish language school, but don't dare demand to have the Irish language visible at the biggest transport site on this island"? Does she agree that that is an offensive approach for her party and others to take?”
“It is more of a linguistic demand than a political agenda. I remind the Minister that within a short distance of the site there are three Gaelscoileanna”
“We saw classic red flags of austerity throughout last week's spring statement: decreases in day-to-day Government spending, 10,000 Civil Service job losses and cuts to administrative spending for public services. All the while, defence spending will increase by £2·2 billion. Austerity is back with a red rosette, and it is a foolish economic policy in response to Trump's tariffs for Europe. Austerity is a deadly political ideology that we must oppose at every turn. <BR /> <BR />It is worth asking what the Minister for Communities and his party are focusing on in this period. They are focusing on bilingual signage. They should grow a spine and lead the fight against those disgraceful and deadly cuts against our communities. It is time to get the priorities right. We need to demand that there should be money for welfare, not warfare.”
“It has pointed the finger in all directions, blaming individuals for taking advantage of the system, blaming clinical professionals for over-diagnosing mental health conditions and blaming the Tories for maxing out the national credit card. The Labour Government seem incapable of acknowledging the human cost of 15 years of austerity and neglect and the privatisation of our public services. They want to continue the pain. Health waiting lists are spiralling out of control; school buildings are crumbling; and the homelessness crisis is tearing apart working-class communities. Is it any wonder that more people are sick and poor? Many sick and disabled people are rightly worried that cuts to PIP and universal credit mark not only the dismantling of the welfare state but a return to austerity.”
“A total of £500 million of cuts were found, once again, from the pockets of sick and disabled people: proof, if it were needed, that it was never about supporting people into work. The majority of people on social security are in work and need the support to top up their poverty wages. Many disabled people rely on the personal independence payment (PIP) to stay in work. The cuts were only ever about saving money and satisfying the British ruling class. <BR /> <BR />The Government's own analysis predicts that there will be an extra 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, living in relative poverty by 2030 as a direct result of the benefit cuts. We are witnessing Labour's attempts to create a moral panic about benefits spending.”
“It is fair to say that I and many others did not expect much from the Labour Government. The bar was set so low because of how awful the previous Conservative Administrations were. However, I and many others did not believe that things would be this appallingly bad so quickly. It is not even a year into this Administration and look at the havoc that they have wrought. If anyone really believed that the Labour Government's cuts to welfare were driven by a genuine desire to support more people back into work, last week's spring statement burst that bubble. <BR /> <BR />The Office for Budget Responsibility told the Chancellor that she had done her sums wrong, so she had to scramble back to the drawing board to find more cuts in order to meet her self-imposed fiscal rules.”