A Conservative spokesman has accused Stormont politicians of hampering economic growth by overregulating and exhibiting “technophobic behaviour” over Uber.
Neil Wilson, the party’s NI Assembly candidate in East Belfast, said: “Uber works fantastically well in 68 countries. Yet in Northern Ireland our politicians seem intent on overregulating it out of operation, denying the people of Belfast both flexible employment and cheap transport. “Their technophobic behaviour and desire to regulate every aspect of our lives is one of the main reasons for our paltry 2% economic growth. It beggars belief that the political class talk about making Belfast a hub for the development of disruptive technologies yet are utterly clueless when it comes to Uber.”
Neil highlights two measures as evidence of politicians’ lack of understanding of how Uber operates.
- Insisting that Uber drivers have full taxi licences, therefore hampering the recruitment of extra drivers and denying low cost travel to Belfast resident.
- Putting forward legislation that will tie all taxi providers to now antiquated technology, including meters and paper receipt machines.
Neil concluded: “It doesn’t surprise me that Stormont deliberately stands in the way of economic growth, they’ve been doing it for long enough, but to snuff out an innovation the whole world is embracing would be a new type of embarrassment.”