Eamon McCann.

“It’s the season of Santa for those in the know, but Scrooge-time for the rest of us,” said the Londonderry based MLA.

“A chill wind for the common people, but a balmy breeze for friends of Foster. Summer the year round for the likes of Sammy Wilson, yet an endless winter for the working class,” he added.

“The class dimension has been totally ignored in coverage of the RHI scandal. But it’s class which explains why people are being hauled into court and named and shamed for doing the ‘double,’ while those responsible for ripping us off for hundreds of millions walk away without a worry on them.

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“Public sector workers are told that jobs have to go and wage rises are out of the question because there’s no money. Then we discover that money is no object when it comes to subsidising those who are in with the in-crowd.

“Teachers have just been told they have to accept a one percent rise. Why should they?” asked McCann.

He said public servants had been demonised for expecting their pay to keep pace with inflation, but there was no upper limit on what rogues with the right political connections can rake in.

“Unions should stiffen their resistance to austerity measures now that we know there are many, many others for whom the good times have never stopped rolling - money for jam, money for old rope, money for nothing.

“Children from poor families shiver in the cold while better-off families enjoy warm homes. I don’t begrudge them. None of us should. But it’s not fair. It’s not right.

“We appeal directly to working-class people who may have voted DUP because that party flies the right flag, to look again and consider whether they shouldn’t support People Before Profit instead. We stand for the working class, irrespective of what community they come from.

“It’s not just Arlene Foster and the DUP whose credentials must be put under close scrutiny, but the whole set-up based on striking a balance between Orange and Green.

“The fact that our political system is constructed around the idea of communal identity has been a factor in allowing politicians to believe they can get away with anything, as long as it doesn’t disrupt the the separate unities of the Orange or Green blocs.