Queen’s University Belfast representative Joel Johnston’s speech on the following motion:

This Conference, being conscious of the fragility of the world economy and the need for national action to protect and promote economic recovery, notes the inconsequential role of the Stormont Executive in responding to the recent crisis and restoring stability, recognises the pivotal role of small and medium sized indigenous business in advancing the Northern Ireland economy and in consequence calls for:-

active encouragement of private enterprise and reducing dependency on the public sector;

improving the skills base of our local workforce and firm disincentives towards the work shy;

sustained and fair support for our local agri-food industry at the local, national and European level;

systematic reduction in the bureaucratic red tape to which business is subjected and

a fair deal for our fishing industry and an end to further reduction in annual quotas, with a Minister in charge of agriculture and fisheries who cares and is capable of putting Northern Ireland’s interests before her all-Ireland agenda.

It is a great pleasure to be asked to deliver my second address to the annual conference. Indeed it feels like I am advancing up the TUV ladder rather than falling down it!

Conference between July and September of this year the UK economy shrank by a further .4% making the recession the worst since records began in the 1950s. There is no doubt that the economic downturn has had a disastrous impact on both the regional and the world economy.

Northern Ireland now needs strong leadership to deliver. TUV can provide that leadership if we strive to meet five principles for a strong Northern Ireland economy:

1.       A LOYAL ECONOMY: The TUV recognize that the future of the Northern Ireland economy relies on our small businesses, our farmers and our fishermen and that is why these sectors are our priority. We pledge to continue to work for these sectors which have been loyal to Northern Ireland.

2.       A KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY: The TUV wants to work to develop the knowledge economy.  On their website SF state ‘there will be no knowledge economy, no smart economy if we allow government to vandalise our education system.’ Oh the irony! This is precisely what Sinn Fein the party of government is doing. TUV will continue to expose Sinn Fein/IRA and ensure our knowledge economy can develop.

3.       A COMPETITIVE ECONOMY: We will work to reduce the bureaucracy and red tape. We will work to develop meaningful infrastructure free from a warped political ideology. While Sinn Fein advance a system of roads to link Northern Ireland with the economically ravaged Republic of Ireland and have ensured that there was a 350% increase in expenditure on the Irish language over the past year in education we will continue to reject this waste of money. We will argue for money to be invested in economically viable infrastructure.

4.       A GREEN ECONOMY: Northern Ireland will continue to develop a green economy. The former environment minister Sammy Wilson may call us ‘flat-earthers’ but the TUV understand unlike Mr. Wilson that Northern Ireland must cut out the waste, including the wasteful Stormont regime and grasp the opportunities of developing renewable sources of energy. However we will reject unrealistic targets that impose greater bureaucracy on our small businesses.

5.       A MORAL ECONOMY: We believe that the concept of a moral economy must underpin all of our economic policy. The recession has hit the young and not-so-young, the hard working, and the PMS savers all while the bankers and politicians that lead us into recession were lining their own pockets! The House of Commons is more like the House of Swindle than a home for democracy! The TUV believe that it is time to rid the political system of those who have robbed the electorate. It is time for a change in how our politicians operate, there can be no justification for those like Willy McCrea and his walnut desk or Mrs. Robinson and her fountain pen while PMS savers lose their lives savings! It is time that these people who exploited an immoral economy were thrown out! It is time for politicians to represent the people of Northern Ireland not their bank balances.

Conference how can these people pretend to care about the economic interests of this country when they have lost touch with economic reality? When was the last time you bought a pen which cost £306? Why the £6? Because Mrs Robinson bought a pen with no ink!

Mrs Robinson had only to ask. We were selling TUV pens for £2! The TUV demand a moral economy. Northern Ireland deserves a moral economy!

Conference when it comes to the economy the TUV is the trusted and united voice for our Farmers, for our Fishermen, for our small businesses and for the PMS savers. Conference it is time to deliver for the Northern Ireland economy.

In 2007 Nigel Dodds (you know the man whose wife was elected on TUV transfers) stated that: ‘Northern Ireland is open for business’. A year later Northern Ireland businesses were closing on a daily basis.

Conference, with your help in 2010 the TUV can say "Northern Ireland is under new management".