Member's statement: Government, Politics and People
Member's statement by Mr Jon Burrows on .
- MLA
- Mr Jon Burrows
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 8 June 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Government, Politics and People
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5600182
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Government and politics should work for the hard-working people of our country, those who do the right thing, pay their taxes, obey the law, follow the rules and raise their families to the best of their ability. As I go round our great country, I begin to see that so many feel that it works the opposite way round. Working families who work so hard, juggling childcare, see no economic benefit to being out at work. We have farmers, businesses and householders who face bureaucratic obstacle after obstacle for trying to build a henhouse or get an extension or expand their business, yet, of course, we have statues to terrorists erected without planning permission and nothing is done. We saw that, of course, with that party during COVID: people were fined for walking their dog, but there are those who can flood the streets in a show of strength and nothing happens. I speak to constituents all the time who have children with special educational needs and disabilities. They battle and battle for statements, yet there are people in our society — there are some whom other politicians do not want to talk about — who manipulate that system for their benefit to the detriment of those who really need it. I am a great advocate of the Police Service. How many times have we seen law-abiding motorists who are taxed, insured and have their MOT get penalised for a minor infraction of the law from an automatic camera? Yet, when e-scooters are terrorising communities, the police cannot chase the e-scooter in case the rights of the suspect are infringed.
Our prison officers had to wait longer than anyone elsewhere in the United Kingdom to get a ban on smoking. Why? It was because the Justice Department put the rights of prisoners to smoke ahead of the rights of the prison officers to have clean air in their workplace. That sums up what has gone wrong in our society. When there is a balance to be struck between the rights of a perpetrator and the rights of a victim, consistently the victim's rights trump all. Ultimately, that will come when Ms Mulholland brings her amendment, which will mean that downblousing and upskirting and sexual assault and harassment in schools by anyone under 14 cannot be prosecuted. Under one of her amendments, someone aged 10 or 11 who replicated exactly the Jamie Bulger case could not be touched by the police, because the suspect's rights are far greater than the rights of the perpetrator. You can be a victim of a scandal, be that through the Post Office or in health, and you cannot get an inquiry, but if you are a family of a terrorist who went out to murder, you can get an inquiry at the drop of a hat. All of that speaks to me about a society that is not standing for those who do the right thing and play by the rules and which does not properly stand for the most vulnerable in society. We should be laser focused on helping them and giving them support. As I go round the country, I feel a disconnect in society between government and politics and the people whom we are supposed to serve.
545 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Uncertain: close call Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism
Uncertain: this record is published but not counted in any total.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.63 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- Criteria met: Dog-whistle messaging (0.71).
- The text adopts the identity-based framing in its own voice (0.52).
- Subject area: Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism.
- The answers did not meet either automatic threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.50 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.35 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.12 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.71 | Yes |
| Controversy escalation | 0.40 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.42 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.63 | Between thresholds |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.45 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.01 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.02 |
| Adopts it (chosen) | 0.52 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 0.58 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.23 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.11 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.05 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.03 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:48 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
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