Shadow secretary of state says Alliance are 'left wing' and don't have answers to Northern Ireland's problems
The shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has branded the Alliance Party “left wing” – and said it therefore doesn’t have the solutions needed to fix Northern Ireland’s public services.
Alex Burghart – who also serves as the shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster – said local parties have to be “put on notice” over a failure to fix public services.
The Conservative MP highlighted the state of the health service in Northern Ireland – saying that when some people are waiting eight years for appointments, it isn’t really a service at all.
He was speaking to delegates at the Northern Ireland Conservatives conference in Belfast on Saturday – and offered his advice to local members on how to increase support. He said the party needed to meet the needs of the people, which are “very straightforward”.
“The economy is in a bad way. Businesses are under pressure. We're going to see an unemployment rise over this parliament and public services are not delivering.
“And what sits behind this is the fact that, firstly, we have a disastrous Labour government in Westminster making decisions which are having a real time impact on families, businesses, and on public services here in Northern Ireland, across the whole of the UK.
“But also we have a system of devolution here in Northern Ireland, for many and obvious and complex reasons, has not been able to fix issues such as health”, he said.
Mr Burghart said: “At some point you reach a limit where you say that this is not acceptable, we will have to find an alternative” – adding that “the current parties in power have to be put on notice that if this doesn't work, something else is going to have to be tried”. He said he had seen “a very glossy party political broadcast” from the Alliance Party on the television during his visit , which said the status quo isn’t working.
“We all know that the alliance is a left wing party. The left, the Alliance, does not have the solutions to the economy, and if you don't have the solutions to the economy, you don't have the solutions to public services. And that's where our opportunity politically lies... we know where the problems are economically”.
Mr Burghart also said the Tory party needs to come back quickly to “save the country”.