Simon says

Don’t you just love devolution?  We’re able to make our own decisions on all sorts of things – health, education, welfare – instead of dancing to the tune of our Westminster masters. Except for some reason our feet keep making dance-like gestures.

The NHS here suffers from the same problems as the NHS in Britain: starved of resources, over-worked staff, excessive and costly management. We could be living in Berkshire for all the difference there is. It may even be better in Berkshire. As for education, we’re different in that we have more grammar schools per capita than exist in Britain  – a distinction which highlights the extent to which we cater for the top tier in education while the bottom tier still emerges with few if any qualifications. Only this morning Paul Nolan was an BBC Radio Ulster/Raidio Uladh pointing out how badly young working-class Protestant boys were doing in school. But if you look at the way our system is set up – GCSEs, AS Level, A Level – it’s an exact replication of what’s in Britain. The south of Ireland has a completely different system culminating in the Leaving Certificate. Not once have I heard any politician of any stripe suggest that there is anything for us to learn from, let alone imitate in, the southern system. It’s  Westminster’s way or no way.

And now we have the Welfare Reform Bill.  The DUP are hot to trot, saying if we don’t, Westminster will start cutting millions from their money to us. Trevor Ringland (Conservative) says  “It is being rolled out in the UK and it is the UK taxpayer who is funding it. And the UK taxpayer expects it to be rolled out here as well.” The DUP’s Simon Hamilton  says “They are going to take, next year,  around £50m to £60m out of the budget. I don’t want to play Russian roulette with that sort of money”.  One of the major features of this welfare “reform” is the infamous bedroom tax, where those with an extra room in their house will be subject to benefits cuts.

So although the Welfare Reform Bill clearly is aimed at those lowest on the social ladder, we’re still expected to implementing it without delay. Unionist politicians, who had no difficulty in standing up to the implementation of the Haas talks, which would have addressed the needs of victims, are now filled with anxiety over the Westminster edict. If we don’t comply with their punitive laws or we can go whistle for millions of our money.

Just as there’ll be no resolution of the issues Haas dealt with before next month’s elections, so too there’ll be no resolution of the welfare reform issue this side of late May. Some say Sinn Féin are stalling, not wanting to be accused of implementing cuts north of the border while opposing them south of the border. On the other hand, they might be resisting cuts here because they’re unjust, even as they’re unjust in the south. But one thing is increasingly clear: unionism, famed for its rugged independence, famed for its bulldog ability to resist pressure from any quarter, can’t wait to fall in line with Westminster’s bidding. So much for the degree of control we’ve been given in a devolved Assembly. No wonder Scottish nationalists want out.