BELFAST BRIEFING:THERE WAS at one time an unspoken rule in Northern Ireland: never mix business with politics. Thanks to the peace process and the global economic meltdown, the rules have gone out the window.
It is all about the politics of business these days and the impending Westminster elections promise to deliver one of the biggest local showdowns yet on the economic front.
In the past, it was always a case of “business as usual” regardless of the election promises. But things have changed – for starters the local economy is in much worse shape than at the time of the last elections five years ago.
New research published this week shows business confidence in the North is low. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said its latest survey reflected concerns about public spending, recent security events and pre-election uncertainty. PwC estimates that the recession has cost Northern Ireland around 33,000 jobs, including an estimated 10,000 in construction.
It is not surprising then that the Construction Employers’ Federation (CEF) is calling for political debate on the “real issues”.
For the first time in its 65-year history the CEF is asking what questions people would like to put to local political leaders.
It has now launched what it describes as its “Bricks and Mortar Politics” campaign to highlight the real issues, such as “jobs and the economy”.
John Armstrong, managing director of the CEF, believes most people will have been affected in some way by the downturn because the North’s economy relies so heavily on construction. He says the CEF campaign will give them a voice. “This is an opportunity for the self-employed bricklayer who can’t find work, the materials supplier whose business is struggling to survive, or the local store owner whose sales have plummeted to find out how their potential MPs plan to help them,” Armstrong said.
The CEF hopes to organise a Bricks and Mortar Politics debate between the leaders of the main political parties in the week before the election. Just two of the main political parties have so far signed up to participate in such a debate.
According to Alasdair McDonnell, the SDLP’s South Belfast candidate and enterprise spokesman, political parties are very aware of how important the economic card will be in successfully wooing voters.
“Every one of our canvassers is reporting that jobs and the economy are the big concerns on the doorsteps,” McDonnell says.
Although the SDLP, like the Alliance Party and the Ulster Unionists, has yet to launch its 2010 manifesto, McDonnell has publicly stated that it will contain strong proposals for boosting the economy and creating jobs. He says the North needs MPs at Westminster who “understand the threat to jobs” and can fight it.
McDonnell says: “We need credible strategies for protecting the jobs we have and creating new ones, not in two or three years when the international economy picks up, but right now. There is a strong consensus among local economists about what needs to be done to kick-start the local economy. All we are lacking is a matching political consensus to go and do it.”
Both Sinn Féin and the DUP have put the economy at the heart of their campaigns. At the launch of Sinn Féin’s campaign last week, party president Gerry Adams said the election was about leadership, peace and equality. “It is about jobs and it is about unity,” he added. Adams said people were “worried about the economy, about jobs, about housing issues”.
At its manifesto launch yesterday, the DUP said it was committed to growing the private sector, which it believes is “key to economic success”. Its economic objectives include creating an “innovative wealth-generating, export-oriented economy” and reducing corporation tax. It also advocates cutting VAT to 5 per cent for construction work, designating the North as a special economic zone and establishing an innovation institute.
Green Party candidate for North Down Steven Agnew is calling on all candidates to refuse to accept donations from property developers.
“This election should be an opportunity for all parties to restore the faith of the electorate in the political process,” says Agnew. Perhaps it should be a topic for discussion at the Bricks and Mortar Politics debate.
