Sinn Fein
The Week in Review
26 May – 03 June 2015

Tory austerity at the heart of Executive’s difficulties
Sinn Féin MLA Martin McGuinness said this week that the austerity cuts agenda of the British Tory party is `at the heart of the difficulties facing the Assembly’.
Martin McGuinness was speaking after he and Mid Ulster MLA Michelle O’Neill met British Secretary of State Theresa Villiers.
Martin McGuinness said there had been `a very frank and forthright meeting’ and that he had told Theresa Villiers `the present difficulties facing the Executive are the direct consequence of Tory austerity cuts’. He said the British government `needs to tell us how the £25bn of cuts proposed by George Osborne will impact on people in the north and on our frontline public services’.
He said he had asked Theresa Villiers `on three occasions to spell out the impact of those cuts and she has refused to tell us’, and added `I made it clear… that any effort by the British government to take back welfare powers would be a mistake and would be unacceptable to Sinn Féin’.
He concluded that Sinn Féin `would not accept unelected civil servants setting the budgets for our Executive departments.’
Meanwhile Sinn Fein MPs Francie Molloy, Paul Maskey and Mickey Brady were in London over the past week to raise concerns across the political parties, and with the Irish Ambassador, over the British Government’s imposition of cuts and attacks on the welfare state. Mickey Brady said that the party was seeking to make links with those in the parties, the trade unions and social movements who wanted to oppose conservatism and austerity, and the devastating effects `both sides of the Irish sea’.

Villiers denial of cuts agenda not helpful-Murphy
Earlier, Sinn Féin negotiator Conor Murphy today accused British Secretary of State Theresa Villiers of being in denial that it is her government’s cuts agenda, which is the root cause of the current crisis.
Conor Murphy said the present difficulties facing the Executive were `the direct consequence of Tory austerity cuts and their attempts to impose further welfare cuts on the most vulnerable in society’.
He added, `The British government is planning another £25bn of cuts to public services and welfare yet Theresa Villiers continues to refuse to spell out the impact of these cuts on the people of the north. She is clearly in denial of the role of her government’s austerity policies in provoking the crisis and there is no indication she is serious about addressing the key issues.’
He concluded: `The Tories have no mandate in the north for their cuts agenda. The local parties need to make it clear that Tory cuts to public services and the welfare state are unacceptable.’

Assembly will not be a puppet to Tory austerity
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin MLA Daithí McKay said British Government resistance to further devolution undermined progress made in the Assembly and devolved institutions in Scotland and Wales.
He was speaking after a series of meetings with Scottish Government officials and Members of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh as part of the Finance Committee’s inquiry into the Barnett formula.
The North Antrim MLA said `the problems we are trying to resolve in the face of Tory cuts to Executive budgets and welfare are made significantly more difficult by the fact we have no control over our own fiscal levers in the Assembly’.
He added, `Without any control over taxation the Tory government is attempting to force us to accept their austerity agenda through reducing budgets.
`This is not sustainable. Scotland will receive some limited fiscal levers in the next couple of years. However, both the Belfast and Edinburgh Assemblies need to receive full taxation powers to work effectively and avoid being undermined by Westminster policy making in the future.
He concluded `It is now clearer than ever before that fiscal levers need to be transferred to the Assembly. Economic policy set in London has fundamentally undermined our political structures. The Assembly cannot and will not be a puppet to the Tory government and its austerity project.’

Workers’ rights must be protected
Sinn Féin Employment and Learning Spokesperson, Browyn McGahan MLA said last week that the British government was clearly signaling its intent to attack the hard-won rights of workers.
The South Tyrone MLA was speaking following the announcement of British government proposals in the Queen’s Speech to limit trade union rights.
Bronwyn McGahan said that instead of reducing trade union rights `what is required is legislation to strengthen workers’ rights to engage in collective bargaining to ensure compliance with European Court of Human Rights judgments.’
She said that `vulnerable workers now more than ever need their rights to collective bargaining enshrined in law and protected,’ adding `this right-wing Tory government, which is hell-bent on further draconian cuts to public services and the welfare state, is now intent on attacking the protections provided to workers with its so-called Trades Union reform.’
If the Tory plans went ahead she warned it could result in `exploitative employers demanding more zero-hour contracts, lower pay, poorer working conditions, and lowering of health and safety provision
The proposed legislation `should act as a wake-up call to the Trades Union movement to stand with those of us who are fighting the Tory attacks on everything from the Welfare State, the Health Service and now the Trades Union Movement’, she said, concluding: `it is time for the political parties, trades unions and civic society to stand together against the failed policies of austerity.’

British Bill of Rights `can’t replace European Convention on Human Rights’
Sinn Féin MLA Caitriona Ruane said Sinn Féin would `reject any attempt to replace the European Convention of Human Rights with a British Bill of Rights’.
Referring to the announcement in the Queen’s Speech to `unveiled to introduce a British Bill of Rights’, Ms Ruane warned that `Britain is attempting to remove itself from the ECHR’ which would be `a further erosion of peoples’ right’.
She said `any moves by Britain to roll back from human rights commitments are unacceptable’.
As well as `denying people access to this essential human rights body, it would also mean that Britain would be in breach of the Good Friday Agreement’, she added, pointing out `the British Government has failed to implement a Bill of Rights or Acht Na Gaeilge, commitments made under the Good Friday and other agreements’.
She concluded: `Rather than eroding people’s rights they should live up to their responsibilities and implement the outstanding issues outstanding under the Good Friday Agreement.’

Process agreed to deal with the past must be delivered
Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly this week called for the process to deliver mechanisms agreed at Stormont House to deal with the legacy of the past to be speeded up.
Speaking after a Panorama programme revealed large-scale collusion between British Military Intelligence and the RUC’s Special Branch and loyalist gangs, Gerry Kelly said the programme was `the latest contribution to what is now a wide body of evidence of systemic British state collusion in a murder campaign against the nationalist community’.
He added, `this includes the activities of the so-called Glenanne Gang, who were responsible for more than a 100 killings in Mid Ulster and in Dublin and Monaghan, and a whole series of UDA and UVF gangs across the Six Counties who were armed, trained and directed by British Military Intelligence and the RUC’s Special Branch.’
He said the Police Ombudsman was also `currently working on an inquiry into a shadowy Special Branch forensic team which misled inquiries and the courts on inquiries into up to 60 murders’.
The British government was `still refusing to honour its commitment to hold an independent inquiry into the murder of human rights solicitor Pat Finucane and the PSNI is still continuing to frustrate and delay inquests and investigations into the murders of victims of state and state-controlled death squads’, he added.
He concluded: `This points up the need to speed up the process to deliver the architecture to deal with the legacy of the past agreed at Stormont House.’

Uncomfortable Conversations – panel meeting. Sinn Fein Chairperson Declan Kearney will be joined by a panel of speakers including Lord John Alderdice at a meeting to discuss `Uncomfortable Conversations – a process of reconciliation’ at a Westminster Meeting on Tuesday 14 July, 6.30pm in the Macmillan Room, Portcullis House. Further details: jayne.fisher@parliament.uk

Week in Review is circulated by Sinn Fein MPs. Email jayne.fisher@parliament.uk to join the list. For further information visit www.sinnfein.ie or follow us on twitter @sinnfeinireland