Economy favouring elite '˜needs to end'

Mr Harkin said there was a need to raise taxes on the rich and corporations to reduce inequality.

“All the Stormont establishment parties want to cut taxes on corporations,” he claimed.“They also support privatisation and cutting the public sector down in size.

“That’s what they mean when they use jargon like ‘rebalancing’ the North West economy.”

“Mr Harkin said that this was “evident” in the shedding of thousands of public sector jobs and “their support for Private Finance Initiatives”.

He said that as a result of such private initiatives and the Renewable Heating Incentive scheme, millions in public finances had gone “into the pockets of the rich”.

He said: “The same elites are set to profit when SF/DUP cut taxes on corporations.

“These are all failed Thatcherite policies: privatisation of public services, tax cuts for the rich and starving the public sector of funding.

“They only benefit the already rich. They’re the policies of Donald Trump and Theresa May.”

Mr Harkin said that going along on the current path and sticking to the status quo would do nothing to solve the problems facing local people, especially those suffering from poverty.

“These policies are the cause of inequality,” he said. “Privatisation won’t solve our problems; it will make them worse. We need socialist policies that will redistribute wealth from the few to the many.

“We need an economy for the many, not the few. This can start with fully funding the NHS, education, public transportation and social Welfare. It can start with building thousands of social houses to meet need across the North. It can start with a £10 minimum wage, abolishing student tuition fees and providing free childcare.”