Derry City and Strabane Council has backed calls for a Wealth Tax on the region's richest, to help cushion the looming cost of living crisis.
A recent report by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research predicts a 67 per cent rise in 'extreme poverty' for the north, while 30 per cent of people living in the council's area are already below the poverty line.
At a recent meeting People Before Profit councillor Shaun Harkin proposed a motion noting ‘council is alarmed at the painful impact of the cost of living crisis across all communities in our district.’
It called for the council to back the demand for a radical new Wealth Tax on the super-rich and corporations, support demands for above inflation wage rises and supports the protest organised by Derry Against Fuel Poverty on Saturday March 5 at 4pm in Waterloo Place calling for action on the cost of living crisis.
During the debate SDLP Councillor Rory Farrell said the PBP councillor had ‘a brass neck proposing this’.
Addressing the chamber councillor Harkin said: “ When the pandemic happened we had the government move mountains to take action.
"Westminster gave billions to corporations, there was money pouring out of everywhere so we have to ask, where is the urgency now when its working class people, when its ordinary people, when its vulnerable people who are not connected to the elite?
“Extreme poverty is going to grow in our district and right across our society and I think people want to see radical action taken.
"People want to see the big corporations get properly taxed and why isn’t Stormont at the forefront of campaigning for a new Wealth Tax on the billionaires and the big corporations who have done so well out of the pandemic.
“We should back the call for a new Wealth Tax.
"It’s clear Stormont and the executive need a break from their policy of backing below inflation pay increases which are really pay cuts so we need to send a message that we back all efforts now for real pay increases.
“What’s needed is a people power movement and it’s already started in Derry but it’s going to spread across this island, it’s going to spread across these islands to try and rebalance the massive inequalities we are seeing develop.
“We talk about an anti-poverty strategy coming from Stormont but the reality is deprivation, poverty and inequality have actually increased and they are now increasing by mammoth levels and people are desperate for action unfortunately there is not enough of that happening.”
Seconding the motion, Aontu councillor Emmet Doyle said: “There are times I ask what the point of this council is and why we are sitting here when it’s fairly obvious there are people out there genuinely sitting in their houses freezing.
“People are asking what is the point of council, what is the point of MLAs and MPs when we can talk plenty but when it comes to action we are constrained by rules that don’t seem to recognise there are actual people out there who are suffering.
“We are going to see people being taken out of their homes in body bags because they have died of hypothermia in 2022 in their own homes.
"None of the executive parties have done anything about this apart from blame each other.
"It doesn’t matter who makes the decisions around these matters but it does matter when no one makes them. It’s scandalous.”
Referring to the Ukrainian crisis, independent Councillor Gary Donnelly stated that ‘politicians are removed from the reality of what’s happening on a daily basis’.
He added: “There’s no money for nurses, teachers, health, infrastructure but watch this unfolding war, there will be billions of pounds made available to destroy and kill and this will be paid out of taxpayers' money while ordinary people will struggle to heat or eat.”
Despite supporting the motion, SDLP Rory Farrell said: “Councillor Harkin has a brass neck proposing this.
"This is about a cost of living crisis and People Before Profit had the opportunity two weeks ago to vote against a cost of living increase, namely the rates and they didn’t turn up.
“They were nowhere to be seen, they didn’t turn up to the meeting, they didn’t vote against the rate increase, they did absolutely nothing to support families on the breadline.
“For all their bluff and bluster about protecting people, when it mattered they just didn’t turn up. They aren’t the only party guilty of this. Aontu, for all their protestations, didn’t turn up either.
“We support the calls for a Wealth Tax, we call for inflation busting wage increases because families across this city and district are suffering and I would like to reiterate this council’s call for the communities minister to accelerate the roll out of the Energy Support Scheme, it needs to be extended to every person on tax credits.”
The motion carried with 30 votes for and 7 against.
