“UNITED LEFT ALLIANCE” WOULD WRECK ECONOMY - HUMPHREYS

STATEMENT BY CLLR RICHARD HUMPHREYS
Labour Party Councillor for Stillorgan
Friday, 26 November 2010

“UNITED LEFT ALLIANCE” WOULD WRECK ECONOMY - HUMPHREYS

Cllr Richard Humphreys, the Labour Party Councillor for the Stillorgan Ward, has said that the prospect of the hardline “United Left Alliance” holding the balance of power after the next election “should strike terror into the hearts of every rational voter”.

“This collection of radicals, hardliners and Trotskyites are posing as a reasonable alternative when they are nothing of the kind. They are political snake-oil salesmen, peddling an unworkable voodoo economics that would wreck Ireland’s economy for decades. In my view this grouping is an attempt to piggyback on the popularity of the Labour Party and to sell an extremist message in the process.” Humphreys said.

“I would strenuously urge voters not to gamble with their pensions, their future or their children’s future by letting this grouping anywhere near Leinster House. Most of their leadership appear to be candidates who were rejected by the People in the last general election and I fervently hope that the People will do the same this time.” Humphreys said.

According to their website, this grouping’s economic policy is as follows: “We reject the so-called solutions to the economic crises based on slashing public expenditure, welfare payments and workers’ pay. There can be no just or sustainable solution to the crisis based on the capitalist market.”

“Any political grouping that rejects the market – the only economic system which works – deserves to be dismissed out of hand as economic illiterates. Obviously the market needs to be regulated, but this group of has-beens would try to turn the clock back to before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and institute a Utopian command economy which would destroy individual liberty and entrepreneurship.”

“If this grouping got the balance of power with a mandate to oppose any cuts whatsoever in expenditure, including the welfare and public sector wage bill, they would drive the country to bankruptcy and destroy whatever hope there is of recovery from the recession. I see nothing remotely “left-wing” in destroying any hope of jobs or recovery – the inevitable result if this hardline grouping gets anywhere near the levers of power.”

“The other policies of this group would be equally disastrous to the country. Their policy that Ireland should “Give asylum seekers the right to work“, seemingly automatically, would allow asylum seekers including those with completely bogus claims to overwhelm the Irish jobs market, severely prejudicing Irish citizens as well as non-nationals who are legally present in the state. It amounts to an “open borders” policy of a kind which would savagely drive down employment, wage levels and labour standards and would lead to a massive increase in illegal immigration.”

"It would be one thing to suggest that asylum claims should be processed rapidly, and those still in the system after say 6 or 12 months could be eligible to be considered for limited and conditional work permits in specific circumstances. But as usual, the hardline left rejects any such nuanced possibilities and puts forward an extremist policy which would lead to economic chaos."

“I urge voters to take a long cold look at the extremist policies of the “United Left Alliance” and to reject them as utterly toxic to Ireland’s economy and society, as well as presenting simplistic solutions which are entirely misleading.”

“The Labour Party has worked hard to present an honest and workable alternative to Fianna Fail’s policies and we will continue to do so in the months ahead.” Humphreys said.

Ends