AS the election draws near, the Workers' Party, which have recently been embroiled in internal dispute following a split between the group known as the ‘Northern Ireland Business Committee’ and the party’s Dublin based Ard Comhairle, are once again standing a candidate in West Belfast.
The group associated with the Business Committee are contesting this election under the Workers' Party banner.
Sitting down with the Andersonstown News, the party's West Belfast candidate Patrick Crossan said that he wants to see more well-paid jobs for people.
“We want to see better living conditions, better health and more well-paid jobs for people,” he said.
One of the main features of the party’s manifesto is a call for the voting age to be lowered to 16. On that, Patrick said: “Kids at 16 can go to work, they can do other stuff but they can’t vote. They should be able to vote.
“We are also seeing people raising issues about the cost-of-living, the fuel crisis, health. We want to introduce better working conditions for people with a higher minimum wage. We also want to see a minimum payment of £300 paid to each family.”
When it comes to tackling health waiting lists, Mr Crossan suggested that a lot of the issues we are seeing could be solved by GPs taking on more work.
“GPs in the local surgery could take a lot of pressure off the health service. We also need to see more National Health Service workers employed.”
Central to the party's manifesto are commitments to increase Universal Credit payments, free childcare and a ban on zero-hours contracts.
The party are also campaigning for public transport including rail and ferries to be taken into public ownership alongside utility providers such as gas and electricity.
When it comes to education, the Workers' Party say they are committed to an integrated, secular education system. They are also calling for an end to academic selection and for university tuition fees to be scrapped.
Polling stations will open on Thursday 5 May at 7am and close at 10pm. Voters are reminded that they do not need to bring their polling card to vote, however photographic ID is required.
