Labour is not a silver bullet; barely a silver lining

The visit from the new Prime minister and the Northern Ireland Secretary of State was a courtesy visit and nothing more. However, our local politicians have tried to sell the visit as a more engaged and generous British government. Starmer has plenty of priorities in England like, a crumbling NHS, a crumbling judicial and prison system, and a defence capability not fit for purpose to name a few. So, any idea that the new Prime Minister will have a special focus on us, is deluded and quite frankly why should he? This analysis was confirmed by the post-election News Quiz when Andy Zaltman said” Northern Ireland is reputed to still exist, but it is unclear from much of the coverage”. Blaming the Brits for the political ineptitude of our governing class who continue to make poor choices and no choices, is the real problem. Choices, like not to reform how we are governed, both at Stormont and the local level. It should be clear to everyone that we are over-governed and under-served. Why do we need 11 councils, 6 health and social care trusts, with 1 hospital per 52000 when there is 1 per 78000 in England? In addition, the number of items dispensed in the most deprived areas in Northern Ireland was 46% higher than in the least deprived.  We issue 13 million prescriptions per annum for 45 million items with no charge to anyone. We have 1 civil servant for every 70 of Northern Ireland’s population, the Republic has 1 per 110. This calls for the urgent root and branch reform of the input-focused civil service. We spend an additional £226 million per annum on simply managing an apartheid education structure. These are the costs of division. As for giving the “Hill Billies” additional tax-raising powers the answer to this, is NO, unless there are serious reforms across the public realm including government structures. Reducing the number of councils, introducing some form of water rates and removing the cap on rates bills would be a start. The reality is that we have a dysfunctional form of government called a mandatory coalition. For any Secretary of State even Hilary Benn, who is on top of the brief, this will be an uphill battle. To our “esteemed” underperforming and overpaid ministers, stop banging on about a border poll, waxing about the union; do the job you are elected to do and to remind you, that is to improve the lives of the families and individuals who are suffering from the cost-of-living crisis, and those delving into savings and small pension pots to pay for private health care.

Suneil Sharma

15^th July 2024