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Union prepared to 'bring NI to standstill' in welfare row

Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI political correspondent
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A protest against the changes was held outside the Northern Ireland Office

A major trade union has said it is prepared to bring Northern Ireland to a "standstill" to put pressure on Westminster and Stormont over planned changes to welfare payments.

In March the UK government announced moves aimed at saving £5bn a year in the benefits system by 2030.

The changes will make it harder for people with less severe conditions to claim disability payments.

Extra benefit payments for health conditions will also be frozen for current claimants and nearly halved for new applicants.

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has defended the government's plan, insisting that the way the benefits system currently works is "unsustainable".

Patrick Mulholland, deputy general secretary of Nipsa (Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance), said unions were "not going to tolerate" the overhaul.

Speaking at a protest against the changes outside the Northern Ireland Office in Belfast, he said unions were prepared to bring Northern Ireland to a "standstill" if that was what it took to get Stormont to introduce mitigations to the new system.

"It's clear this is a political decision rather than a financial one," he said.

"We're going to fight to defend the welfare state...we do want to get the message across to Stormont - either they put pressure on central government and get money released or they prepare a package of mitigations so as ordinary people aren't crushed under the weight of these cuts."

The benefits system is devolved in Northern Ireland but in practice the Stormont administration mostly copies what is happening in England and Wales.

A group of men hold up a banner that says 'United we bargain, divided we beg'. It is white and has a red outline. At the front of the picture a man in a wheelchair is wearing a red baseball cap which has "DPAC" on it in white letters.
Unions criticised the government's welfare proposals

Could Stormont mitigate welfare changes?

Stormont Communities Minister Gordon Lyons, of the Democratic Unionist Party, previously said the Northern Ireland Executive did not have the resources to mitigate Labour's plans.

Tony O'Reilly from Disabled People Against Cuts Northern Ireland said his group would continue to campaign to protect "human dignity and fairness".

"We are asking for quality of life - nothing more, nothing less. Do not leave millions of us in destitution," he added.

MPs from the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Alliance Party also attended the protest, alongside People Before Profit assembly member Gerry Carroll.

SDLP leader Claire Hanna said politicians would "fight with you as best we can", adding that what Labour had delivered since taking office in July was "far from the change" it had promised.

"It will leave people more demoralised than they were under the Conservatives," the Belfast South and Mid Down MP said.

Lagan Valley MP Sorcha Eastwood, of Alliance, said the changes were a "disgusting and vile attack" that was not being carried out in her name, while Carroll said Stormont needed to "grow a backbone" and introduce mitigations.

Stormont has previously acted to offset changes to benefits introduced in England, including the controversial bedroom tax.

But with this latest raft of incoming changes ministers have said they do not have the financial firepower to step in again.