Protest Against Water Charges

antrim | worker & community struggles and protests | event notice Tuesday March 18, 2008 23:43 by Non-payer - We Won't Pay Campaign wewontpay at btconnect dot com 02890311778

The We Won't Pay Campaign has called a protest in Belfast against the Northern Ireland Assembly Executive's decision to introduce water charges in April 2009.

1pm Saturday 5th April Castle Place

Water bills see 15% increase, 14 months before they’re introduced!
February 28th, 2008

The We Won’t Pay Campaign has announced that the unexpected threat of water bills increasing by 15% next year is a warning of what will happen year after year unless the charges are defeated.

Pat Lawlor, secretary of the anti-water charges campaign, said “We have continuously warned that once water charges are introduced, bills will escalate year after year which will financially cripple thousands of households. We have seen the experience already in Britain, where water charges soared by 50% in the first four years of the introductionof water charges. This year, bills will increase by 18% on average in April, some areas will see water bills go up by 25%.”

The We Won’t Pay Campaign also attacked the “political parties who claimed to oppose water charges when seeking election to the Assembly but are now clearly preparing to stab the people in the back by imposing charges next April.”

The group also demanded that the “water service be brought fully back into public ownership and democratically run in the interests of the public, and not as a potential source of profits as the directors of Northern Ireland Water Ltd. want.”