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Labour Alternative to Launch Manifesto at Teenage Kicks Mural 10.30am Sat 30th April, Bridge End [metaslider id=654] New cross-community, left-wing party Labour Alternative is to publicly launch its manifesto for next week's Assembly election at the Teenage Kicks mural at Bridge End in Belfast tomorrow, with the party's three young candidates and supporters present. The document is entitled 'Time for a New Kind of Politics - A Left Manifesto for a New Generation'. Key policies include an end to austerity, free education, voting rights at 16, same-sex marriage equality and the extension of the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland. Speaking in advance of the event, Courtney Robinson (18) - the youngest candidate contesting next Thursday's election - said: "There is a growing disconnect between the Stormont establishment and the…

Labour Alternative committed to organising non-payment if charges introduced Speaking today, Courtney Robinson -  Labour Alternative candidate for East Belfast - raised “serious questions” about water metering: [video width="1280" height="720" mp4="http://labouralternative.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/no-to-water-charges.mp4"][/video]   Courtney explained: “I have been contacted by residents on the Holywood Road who have documented water meters being installed in their area. Meters have been installed at all new houses for some time and now are being put in place at older properties. What other purpose would these meters serve except to charge people for water?" “Serious questions have to be asked of all the main political parties about their intentions around water charges. Alliance have already stated they want to see separate water charges introduced. As it stands, plans to introduce the charges have only been delayed. We demand…

Big Leftie Anti-Dinosaur Quiz 8.30pm Thurs 21st April, McHugh's Basement, Belfast £6/person, everyone welcome. Spot prizes and raffles   All proceeds go to Labour Alternative election campaign FACEBOOK EVENT Come along at 7.30pm if you're interested in getting active in the campaign or click here For more info, contact Kevin on 07593731551

Courtney Robinson our Labour Alternative candidate for East Belfast - has sent a scathing reply to an appeal for support from anti-abortion group Precious Life. An email from Bernadette Smyth asked if Labour Alternative would "defend the right to life of all unborn children in Northern Ireland". Along with over 200 others, Ms Robinson signed a public letter admitting to helping women procure abortion pills. Ms Robinson has described Precious Life's call for harsher punishment for a woman recently sentenced for using abortion pills as "shameful" and condemned "harassment" of women outside clinics by pro-life activists. She has also hit out at groups like Precious Life being allowed to "emotionally manipulate" young people in schools. Ms Robinson attacked anti-abortion MLAs who "have little concern for the wellbeing of a child…

Labour Alternative welcomes the decision by local members of the British Labour Party to stand in the upcoming Assembly election under the banner of Northern Ireland Labour Representation Committee (NILRC). An opportunity to begin building a credible, anti-sectarian voice for the working class is posed and must be seized. That is precisely why Labour Alternative was launched. The growth in the Labour Party's membership here since Corbyn's election to the leadership is one indicator of the growing desire for an alternative to Green & Orange politics and the austerity consensus at Stormont. Labour Alternative believes, however, that a new party of the working class is most likely to win significant support in both communities here if it is locally-based and develops out of cross-community campaigns and struggles, rather than simply…

"Stormont parties are to blame for disengagement amongst young people" "My generation are not apathetic." "Young people should register to have their voices heard on 5th May" Courtney Robinson - contesting East Belfast for Labour Alternative - is the youngest candidate standing in the Assembly election on 5th May, at the age of 18. Our South Belfast candidate, Sean Burns (19), follows closely behind her. Courtney said: "The Stormont politicians often complain about young people being disengaged from politics. But they are the ones to blame. My generation are totally turned off by their sectarian bickering, backward views and the pro-austerity consensus. They can only offer more of the same - more division, more poverty, more inequality, more discrimination." "My generation are not apathetic. The movement which saw Jeremy Corbyn elected to the…

Labour Alternative candidates Courtney Robinson (18, East Belfast) and Sean Burns (19, South Belfast) have put up a new poster on LGBT equality and the right to choose across their constituencies. The posters have a provocative message for the electorate - "Don't vote for dinosaurs!" Commenting on the poster, Courtney Robinson said: “Last week, a young woman received a suspended sentence under the 150-year-old legislation which governs abortion here. Her ‘crime’ was to procure tablets which the World Health Organisation lists as essential medicines but which are illegal here if taken to induce a miscarriage. The fault lies not with this woman but with all the main political parties, none of whom support a woman’s right to choose." "Northern Ireland is now the only part of Britain and Ireland that…

Labour Alternative spokesperson Courtney Robinson has defended the woman given a suspended sentence for using medical abortion pills and attacked the "sensationalist" media coverage of the case today. "The sensationalist coverage of the case of this young woman is disgusting. On the Nolan Show, for example, attacks on people not in a position to defend themselves are usually cut across. That was not the case today." "This young woman was in a vulnerable and isolated position when she chose to carry out a medical abortion. She needed help and support, not to be criminalised and demonised."   "Those who reported her to the police should be ashamed of themselves. But the real culprits here are the politicians from all the main parties - DUP, SF, UUP, SDLP, Alliance - who…

Northern Ireland’s abortion laws have once again been exposed as outdated and barbaric. A young woman has pleaded guilty to charges brought under legislation that is 150 years old. She has now received a three month suspended sentence. This comes after a High Court ruling which said that our abortion laws are incompatible with human rights. Courtney Robinson, Cross Community Labour Alternative spokesperson and candidate for East Belfast said: “This case has highlighted the situation faced by women in Northern Ireland. Every year over 1000 women travel to England to have a termination. Many more order abortion pills online. These tablets are on the WHO list of essential medicines but are illegal here if taken to have a miscarriage. It is only due to the backwardness of our politicians that…