‘Hume vision’ endangered by jobs crisis - Shadown NI Secretary of State Labour MP Louise Haigh

Writing in Friday’s ‘Journal’, Louise Haigh MPsays the jobs dilemma facing the tourism and hospitality industries in the North as a result of Covid-19 is a real cause for concern.

“Jobs are being lost now and support is needed now to save livelihoods,” she says.

During a visit to Derry yesterday, Ms Haigh met with the Mayor Brian Tierney and Council chief executive, John Kelpie, to discuss the City Deal, the impact of Brexit and local plans to recover from the Covid-19 crisis.

The Labour MP says she is proud of her party’s role in the NI peace process, but adds: “I fear progress and the ‘future as great as our vision allows’ that John Hume spoke of is at risk of being held back from the gathering clouds of a growing economic crisis. Nowhere is that more clear than in the jobs crisis facing tourism and hospitality, industries which support so many here and across Northern Ireland.

“The unprecedented challenges facing shops, restaurants and tourist spots as a result of the huge drops in visitor numbers are fuelling an unemployment crisis... That’s why the tourism industry, one of Northern Ireland’s great success stories, simply cannot afford to wait for support to come; jobs are being lost now and support is needed now to save livelihoods.”

Ms Haigh hailed Derry as a city that has “overcome so much”, adding that it was “impossible not to be buoyed by the spirit which has put this place on the map.”