Workers Party Regional Spokesperson Nicola Grant said the Workers Party in their response to the Executive’s Anti Poverty Strategy said the Strategy is not Fit for Purpose and should be withdrawn.

Adding poverty is an inevitable outcome of the market system, but a genuine commitment by the Executive to fighting poverty could bring better outcomes to thousands of people in Northern Ireland. We Agree with the Anti Poverty Design Group who raises crucial , political and cultural issues with UK policy and austerity measures.

These policies has left deep structural impacts, particularly on low income households”. The Workers Party agrees that “over a decade of austerity, antipathy to income redistribution, the ever rising cost of living, shrinking public sector budgets, and a wholly inadequate social security system are generating significant economic, political and societal pressures. These factors continue to deepen poverty and intensify its consequences. Yet we see no acknowledgment of how the Executive plan do deal with this situation. Ms Grant finished by saying this document must be withdrawn immediately and a real anti poverty strategy be put in place that contains real measures to deal with the impact of years of neglect and indifference to the hundreds and thousands of people living in poverty and deprivation across Northern Ireland. The workers Party’s full submission can be found on our website workersparty.net.