Debate contribution: Social Security Reform and Economic Inactivity

Debate contribution by Mr David Honeyford on 1 April 2025.

MLA: Mr David Honeyford
Party at the time: Alliance Party
Date: 1 April 2025
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Social Security Reform and Economic Inactivity
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4877108

Text

The super-rich are those on a lot of money. Look at farmers. Farmers are being persecuted by the Government because the likes of Dyson and Jeremy Clarkson are buying up land. Those guys are taking advantage of the ordinary person on the ground. That is what I am talking about: the ordinary person on the ground is paying the price while those who earn obscene amounts continue to earn obscene amounts. Alliance continues to call for progressive taxation and equality of opportunity, with those with the broadest shoulders carrying the most weight. As my party's economy spokesperson, I want to speak about and look at a few issues affecting our economy and the serious lack of cross-departmental work to address the economic inactivity that is linked to the health of our people. I want to look at a few solutions and things that we can do here. When someone is seriously ill or has a disability and is unable to work, as a society, we should fully support them. However, they are not the people whom I want to talk about. Sian passionately laid out our position on that subject, and I would not do any justice to it by repeating some of the things that she said. I want to look at the section of people who are economically inactive but who would go back to work if they could and were enabled to do so. In Northern Ireland, economic inactivity among working-age people has, for years, sat stubbornly at around 25%. Approximately one in four working-age people is economically inactive. When you look at those figures, you see that sickness is the reason why 50% of those people are economically inactive in Northern Ireland. Shockingly, however, that is approximately 50% greater than the figures for the neighbouring counties of Donegal and Monaghan. We in the Assembly should not give false hope, but we have to bring forward a package of solutions to help people and deliver positive change for them. We have to find solutions that remove the barriers in order to help people get back to living healthy lives and to lift families out of poverty. We cannot accept being the sick region of these islands. That is not fair on people, and it restricts their ambition and aspiration. Waiting lists and access to medical support are obviously issues that affect all our constituents. We hear about them all the time in our offices. They are restricting people and holding them in poverty. When we spend more money per capita on health yet have the worst waiting lists, we see that we cannot accept the lack of delivery to transformation. The Assembly has to raise people's aspirations. It should aim for something that is better than the current situation by creating meaningful and fully accessible opportunities for people, not by punishing them, placing them in poverty, causing them further anxiety or leaving them in pain sitting on waiting lists for years on end. For those who did not have a positive start in life, we need a holistic package of investment and support to help them gain confidence and remove the educational barriers that have prevented them moving forward. There are great examples of initiatives that work. Hospitality Ulster has a training initiative to bring more people into the industry. Our largest sporting bodies have another Fresh Start programme. Both offer help for people who are close to the justice system, and they receive funding to improve training and qualifications, give nurture and support in access to work, and they then support people when they are in work. Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, through its labour market partnership, identified a need in the area for HGV drivers and created a scheme to give people opportunities to move forward. We need to look at investing in and scaling up what works on a cross-departmental basis. To close, the motion calls on —.
You are grand. I am going to close anyway. The motion:
"calls on the Minister for Communities to work with the UK Government on the establishment of a UK-wide commission to develop holistic, cross-departmental proposals for addressing economic inactivity among those with long-term illnesses and disabilities".
That is the bare minimum. It is great to hear a united voice right across the House, with everybody opposing the coming cuts. The minimum that we can do is speak with one voice and support local people.
No problem.

740 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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