UKPOL.CO.UK

Category: Northern Ireland

  • Stephen Farry – 2022 Speech on the Energy Price Support Payment in Northern Ireland

    Stephen Farry – 2022 Speech on the Energy Price Support Payment in Northern Ireland

    The speech made by Stephen Farry, the Alliance MP for North Down, in Westminster Hall, the House of Commons, on 16 November 2022.

    I beg to move,

    That this House has considered energy price support to households and businesses in Northern Ireland.

    It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. Sir Gary. I welcome the opportunity to have this debate and I am pleased that the Minister has joined us. The main purpose is to focus on energy cost support for households and businesses in Northern Ireland, with a focus on the urgent delivery of the £400 energy support scheme and the payments to those using home heating oil.

    I am extremely concerned about the impact of delays in support for Northern Ireland households, and the ongoing lack of clarity around when that support will arise. The UK Government have yet to clarify whether the £400 energy support and the £100 in support for oil-reliant households will be made available to Northern Ireland.

    I will give a few words on the broader context. I appreciate that the current energy cost crisis reflects a range of international and domestic factors. Beyond the short-term energy support interventions, there are clear imperatives around insulation and other energy-efficiency measures, and diversification of energy supply, especially in relation to renewables.

    Northern Ireland has some of the most challenging rates of poverty and other social and economic indicators in the United Kingdom, including low productivity, high economic inactivity and reliance on benefits. It also has a different energy market from the rest of the UK, with different suppliers and a different profile of energy sources, and with its connectivity on the island of Ireland. Most notably, almost 70% of Northern Ireland households use home heating oil, compared with less than 5% in the rest of the UK.

    Northern Ireland is already facing a series of unprecedented risks. Our political institutions have collapsed. There are huge challenges to consumer and business confidence, creating enhanced risks to the economic outlook.

    Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)

    I congratulate the hon. Member for North Down (Stephen Farry) on securing this debate. It is a great subject for us back home. The welfare of our local businesses is extremely important. He will know that our family-run and smaller businesses are the backbone of our constituencies—his, mine and those of other Members here—making them unique.

    A local Japanese restaurant in my constituency that has only been open for about six months has seen an increase in its electricity bills of £900 to £3,000 per month. Should this remain an issue, it is clear that jobs will be lost and the business forced to close. Does the hon. Member agree that more consideration must be given to the long term—not just the next four months, but beyond—because businesses are clearly on the brink of closing?

    Sir Gary Streeter (in the Chair)

    Order. Just a reminder that interventions should be brief, Jim.

    Jim Shannon

    I thought that was brief.

    Sir Gary Streeter (in the Chair)

    That was not brief.

    Stephen Farry

    By Jim’s standards, it was. I am grateful to the hon. Member for that intervention. I agree with him about the looming cliff edge that will come next year. It is also relevant to stress the issue of spending power in the economy, particularly in the run-up to Christmas for the hospitality sector.

    Delivery of energy support should have been implemented by the Northern Ireland Executive. Normally, Northern Ireland would receive Barnett consequentials, based around equivalent spending in Great Britain, and would therefore have the scope to design or modify schemes to address local circumstances. Delivery of the £400 payments would have been implemented by now in those circumstances.

    Furthermore, the size of the Barnett consequentials may well be significantly greater than the value of support that comes from direct provision from the UK Government to households and businesses. The Government have recognised that it would have been much easier for delivery to have been through a devolved Executive. However, in a political vacuum, it has fallen to the Government to intervene. I acknowledge the need for that, given the circumstances.

    The energy price guarantee is now in place for Northern Ireland. That said, there are concerns about the scale and duration of the support, particularly what happens from next April onwards. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) has already touched on that point. For today, the most pressing issue is clarity on the timescale for the delivery of the £400 energy support payments, and how that will be phased, plus the implementation of the home heating oil support.

    Despite those pressures, unlike in England, Wales and Scotland, households in Northern Ireland have not yet received a penny of the £400 energy support. There had been indications that we would receive that support in November, one month after the rest of the UK, yet it is now looking increasingly unlikely to be delivered this side of Christmas. We are also hearing that the payment might now be staggered, which means that households will have to wait even longer into next year.

    Claire Hanna (Belfast South) (SDLP)

    I thank the hon. Member for securing this debate on such an important issue—he is always current. I do not know of any suppliers that will deliver less than 200 litres of heating oil, so the £100 support that was proposed would not even get a tank filled—people will have to put in about £150 before they can even avail themselves of it. Does he therefore share my concern about what would happen if that support were staggered or delivered in a piecemeal way?

    Stephen Farry

    Absolutely. There are huge issues in recognising the subtleties of what is efficient for making deliveries in the home heating oil market and the minimum size of delivery, and £100 pounds will not cover the minimum order volume. It is also worth stressing that there are economies of scale. The larger the order, the cheaper it is proportionally, so the households that are struggling most will be hit doubly by that pressure point.

    Paul Girvan (South Antrim) (DUP)

    Another big problem that we have in Northern Ireland is supply and the volume of storage. Kerosene works out around 7p a litre more expensive than in any other region of the United Kingdom.

    Stephen Farry

    I am grateful to the hon. Member for that intervention, which again highlights how the situation in Northern Ireland is different from the rest of the UK, and reinforces the importance of trying to tailor solutions to address our very particular circumstances.

    It also emerged this week that the UK Government’s joint taskforce responsible for delivering the scheme into Northern Ireland has met only twice. While households across the rest of the UK are being insulated from the worst effects of the crisis, families in Northern Ireland are still waiting for this lifeline and have no clarity about when it will arrive. It is not tenable to argue that, because the money will be coming next year, Northern Ireland will not be missing out. There must be a real urgency for getting this resolved now.

    Disposable incomes in Northern Ireland are being particularly eroded by rising energy costs. This represents a grave threat to the wellbeing of households. People in Northern Ireland are also being left behind in terms of their ability to access energy support and are suffering as a result. A survey by National Energy Action in Northern Ireland in June indicated that 45% of Northern Ireland households were already spending more than 10% of their total household income on energy costs. This will be even higher now. That has resulted in dangerous coping mechanisms. Some 80% of Northern Ireland homes admitted to rationing their use of central heating in an effort to reduce costs, and one in 10 households has resorted to skipping meals to ensure that they have enough money to pay for their energy.

    Jim Shannon

    The hon. Gentleman is being incredibly generous, and I thank him for that. Some figures I got from Northern Ireland today indicate that an estimated 12% of Northern Ireland families live in absolute poverty—it is even worse than normal poverty, if there could be such a thing. Does that not support his case for why we need urgent help in Northern Ireland now?

    Stephen Farry

    I am grateful again to the hon. Member for his intervention. Households are facing, in effect, destitution, which is taking poverty to the nth degree in terms of their ability to cope. Similarly, reliance on food banks has increased by 76% in Northern Ireland over the past three years, which is way in excess of the increase in any other UK region. We cannot afford to see households tipped into poverty, more children going hungry, or more pressure on the national health service due to worsening physical and mental health.

    These behaviours put households at significantly increased risk of detrimental impacts on their health and wellbeing, and people in 75% of households admitted to being stressed, anxious or worried about paying for the cost of their energy, either at present or over the winter months ahead.

    Fuel poverty organisations in Northern Ireland are already overwhelmed by demand. NEA in Northern Ireland has seen significant rises in the number of households seeking emergency support. Indeed, it was forced to suspend its referral system temporarily in October because of unsustainable levels of demand on the service, a trend that has now been replicated across other organisations in the sector.

    There will also be a knock-on consequence for consumer spending. Potentially £300 million of spending power is at risk. This is particularly crucial in the run-up to Christmas, with many businesses, which are struggling themselves, depending on Christmas trade to survive. It is make or break time for them.

    Northern Ireland is also suffering because we have a very different energy market from the rest of the UK, and the UK Government’s energy price guarantee does not reflect that. Although households using gas have been protected from price rises through the Government’s energy price cap, those who use oil are yet to receive the paltry £100 of support. That is a mere £100 in heating assistance, which applies to almost 70% of Northern Ireland households. Therefore, the vast majority of homes in Northern Ireland have not received a penny in support for heating cost pressures so far—that is, those households that do not use their electricity for heating.

    We know that oil prices have not risen as much as gas prices. Nevertheless, £100 is simply not enough, particularly given the up-front costs of filling an oil tank. The Consumer Council for Northern Ireland estimates that it now costs £460 to fill a typical 500-litre tank, compared to £269 this time last year. In practice, as the hon. Member for Belfast South (Claire Hanna) has already mentioned, there is not a supplier in Northern Ireland that will provide a tank fill for less than 200 litres, meaning that households need to find an additional £150 before they can even avail themselves of support. Orders for oil need to be larger in order to access those economies of scale.

    We also still do not know when or how this £100 will materialise in Northern Ireland. Not only is the assistance for Northern Ireland households late, but it is lower than the assistance provided to those in the rest of the UK, if we make that comparison between oil and gas costs.

    There are also problems and distortions that come from the use of electricity bills to help oil customers. It is likely either that those people will end up with a credit on their electricity bill that they cannot access at this time of greater stress, or that this will lead to people switching from oil heating to using electric fires, which are potentially more expensive, pose greater health and safety risks, and put further strain on the electricity grid.

    Finally, I am also worried about the looming cliff edge that is faced not only by households but by businesses next April. Recent research by Danske Bank indicates that energy prices rank highly among the key concerns for businesses in Northern Ireland. The latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows that 58% of businesses in the food and drink sector say that their energy prices were their main concern in November, up from 39% in October. Businesses are also extremely concerned about the risks associated with consumer spending, and the current impasse on the energy assistance for Northern Ireland puts local businesses at a direct disadvantage in that respect. I urge the Government to acknowledge that most businesses will likely need continued support, and to confirm that they will cast the net widely in that regard.

    In summary, the human costs of this energy crisis are very real. I suspect that the ongoing uncertainty about post-April assistance will only serve to fuel the economic costs, as consumer spending and business investment will be constrained as a result. I urge the Government to provide assistance and greater clarity as a matter of extreme urgency, for the good of the people of Northern Ireland, the business community and indeed the broader economy, all of which will ultimately have fiscal consequences for the UK Government if conditions further deteriorate.

    I am grateful to the Minister for his presence today. I will focus on the most pressing questions that I hope he will respond to, among other comments that he may wish to make. When and how will households receive the £400 of energy support? Will the Government review their calculation and the level of home heating oil support, and how is that support to be delivered?

  • Caoimhe Archibald – 2022 Comments on £400 Energy Payments in Northern Ireland

    Caoimhe Archibald – 2022 Comments on £400 Energy Payments in Northern Ireland

    The comments made by Caoimhe Archibald, the Sinn Fein economy spokesperson in Northern Ireland, on 10 November 2022.

    It is now more than six months since people here were promised they would receive £400 to help them tackle soaring energy costs during the cold winter months.

    The DUP’s blockade of the Executive delayed getting this money out into people’s pockets earlier in the year.

    And despite former DUP economy minister Gordon Lyons promising people they would be getting the payment in November, this is looking increasingly unlikely.

    Yesterday British minister Steve Baker was unable to say when the payments will be made.

    That is simply unacceptable.

    People need this payment now as they struggle to heat their homes and we move deeper into winter.

    The British government need to get this money out the door as soon as possible and ensure that people can afford to put the heat on.

  • Jeffrey Donaldson – 2022 Speech on Elections in Northern Ireland

    Jeffrey Donaldson – 2022 Speech on Elections in Northern Ireland

    The speech made by Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP MP for Lagan Valley, in the House of Commons on 9 November 2022.

    The Secretary of State is making a statement under provisions laid out in the New Decade, New Approach agreement, yet the only remaining part of that agreement that has not been implemented and honoured by this Government is the most important one of all: restoring Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market.

    We have had legislation passed on language and identity, and other pieces of legislation, including the provisions that the Secretary of State draws upon today. We recognise that the Government have brought forward legislation on the protocol, which is welcome, and that negotiations are ongoing. The Belfast/Good Friday agreement is based on the principle of consensus and cross-community support. When I hear some Members in this House saying that no one party should have a veto and praising the Good Friday agreement, maybe they need to read the agreement again and recognise that it is cross-community. There was silence from some when Sinn Féin kept Northern Ireland without a Government for three years; nothing was said about removing the Sinn Féin veto, so let us be even-handed.

    To conclude, I say to the Secretary of State that words such as “courage”, “understanding” and “compromise” are fine and good words, but what the people of Northern Ireland need now, the sooner the better, is a solution that sees the institutions restored on the basis that Northern Ireland is an integral part of the United Kingdom, in line with article 1 of the Belfast agreement and with the Act of Union itself.

    Chris Heaton-Harris

    I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his words and his questions. I hear exactly what he says. He details where legislation is in this place. The Northern Ireland Protocol Bill is, I believe, now in Committee in the House of Lords, unamended at this point. It is moving at good pace. This Government’s preferred view is to have a negotiated solution with our European partners, but he can see what we are aiming for in the content of that Bill.

    I also hear what the right hon. Gentleman says about the history—I have made that point myself to all those who have raised similar points with me because I am aware of it and of the responsibility that sits on my shoulders. I am also aware that the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday agreement on 10 April could and should be a great day for Northern Ireland, its politics and its past, present and future. I look forward to working with the right hon. Gentleman on all those matters.

  • Richard Thomson – 2022 Speech on Elections in Northern Ireland

    Richard Thomson – 2022 Speech on Elections in Northern Ireland

    The speech made by Richard Thomson, the SNP spokesperson on Northern Ireland at Westminster, in the House of Commons on 9 November 2022.

    I, too, thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement. I very much echo his sentiment that Northern Ireland is governed best when it is governed locally, but it is also important to recognise that government and politics in Northern Ireland work best when there are good and productive relations between London and Dublin, and between the UK and the European Union.

    Northern Ireland has been in the unfortunate position of having both its Governments paralysed by inaction over the past few months, albeit for different reasons, but we have made clear our view that the best place for Members of the Legislative Assembly to be—and where the overwhelming majority of people in Northern Ireland expect them to be—is at work in Stormont, holding a functioning Executive to account as it gets on with overseeing the delivery of vital public services. We do not think it serves the interests of people in Northern Ireland for there not to be an Executive in place, but neither would it serve their interests to hold an election, which, if it achieved anything, would only be to further entrench already well-dug positions. We therefore look forward to the legislation on the period for Executive formation, to allow for essential decision making to take place in the meantime and to allow for some long overdue negotiations to take place.

    While we have been clear that the protocol was a necessary measure to protect Northern Ireland from Brexit, we have also been clear that it is not unreasonable in the light of experience for the UK Government to try to renegotiate it. Does the Secretary of State agree that any new settlement on the protocol cannot only be about Northern Ireland and that a revised settlement will only be a better settlement if it eases trade for all parts of the UK, including the UK-EU export trading environment, rather than just trade between GB and Northern Ireland?

    Chris Heaton-Harris

    I thank the hon. Gentleman for his contribution and his support. I completely echo his view that things work best when conversations are being had, whether in the Executive or the Assembly in Northern Ireland, or between London and Dublin—I would like to think that we have strongly reset that relationship in recent weeks—or indeed between the United Kingdom and the European Commission. Again, I would like to think that we have strongly reset that relationship in a good place in recent weeks. I understand his views about how we move forward. I believe the key to everything is to try to ensure that we get the appropriate, correct negotiated solution to the protocol. All things that flow from that will be beneficial for us all.

  • Peter Kyle – 2022 Speech on Elections in Northern Ireland

    Peter Kyle – 2022 Speech on Elections in Northern Ireland

    The speech made by Peter Kyle, the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in the House of Commons on 9 November 2022.

    I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement. Here at Westminster, our respective parties should strive to work together and build consensus on Northern Ireland whenever possible, so I appreciate his efforts to inform me of developments over the weekend and during the period since the 28 October deadline passed.

    Tony Blair was right when he called the peace process

    “a responsibility that weighs not just upon the mind, but the soul.”

    So I understand the difficulties that the Government are facing. When we talk about elections in Northern Ireland, it is worth repeating that power-sharing, frustrating as it can be, is the essential and hard-won outcome of the Belfast/Good Friday agreement, and the principle of consent is fundamental to it. The fact that we have been without an Executive since February damages the agreement that we all cherish.

    That has also hit public finances. The independent Northern Ireland Fiscal Council has made it clear that the lack of an Executive has made it harder to manage the pressure of inflation. The cost of living crisis is hitting Northern Ireland particularly hard, and the Government must urgently implement the support that they have promised. If they delay any further, they must give the people of Northern Ireland an explanation, beyond simply saying, “It’s complicated.”

    The Labour party has taken a constructive approach to the challenges posed by the absence of devolution. We have called for any of the three Prime Ministers in that time to use their great office to bring parties together. Can the Secretary of State therefore confirm when the current Minister for the Union—who is also the Prime Minister—will visit Belfast? We have taken all parties on their own terms. Will the Secretary of State consider bringing all parties together in one room, so that they can hear the same message at the same time from him? We need everyone to be on the same page when it comes to the challenges that face Northern Ireland.

    We have also put forward solutions to the outstanding issues with the Northern Ireland protocol. The politics, as well as the implementation, of the protocol are indivisible from the current impasse. Anyone who thinks differently is on a hiding to nothing. Even though the protocol forms part of a treaty between the UK and the EU, Northern Ireland is, by definition, on the frontline. The Unionist community perceive it as an existential threat, yet party leaders from both communities, and the Alliance party, tell me that they are not meaningfully updated, let alone consulted, on the UK’s negotiations. The Secretary of State is still relatively new in his position. Will he turn a new page and find ways to bring Northern Ireland’s parties together; to bring them in from the cold? Given that negotiations with the EU are so opaque, perhaps he could tell us whether they are finally trying for a veterinary agreement.

    I met all the party leaders in the week before the 28 October deadline, and I do not think that what they said then has changed since. There is great hope that the nature of negotiations with the EU has changed, and that a deal is close. If that is indeed the case, the Government need to update the House regularly, and to keep us updated henceforth. Three Secretaries of State in six months was never likely to lead to a sustained effort to restore Stormont. Chaos has consequences. More than any other part of our country, Northern Ireland is reeling from the Tory dysfunction here in Westminster.

    I have made it clear that I will support the Government in delaying elections in extreme circumstances, but we need to hear what the time will be used for. This is the crux of the matter. The Government wasted the last six months, so what will they do in the next few weeks that they have bought themselves that they did not do in the previous weeks? If the coming period is to be fruitful, something different needs to happen, so rather than our focusing on the technical aspects of date changes, I would like to hear more from the Secretary of State about what he intends to use that time for.

    In the year since my appointment, this is the first statement on Northern Ireland, despite everything that has happened. Will the Secretary of State commit to keeping the House more updated, on a more regular basis, than his predecessors did?

    Northern Ireland deserves more than uncertainty, limbo and neglect. The Labour party will always be an honest broker for Northern Ireland, and we will work tirelessly to find the stability that is necessary for a bright future shared by all.

    Chris Heaton-Harris

    I thank the hon. Gentleman for his constructive tone, and for the way in which we have worked together since I took over this role. I welcome the fact that he, too, noted the contents of the Fiscal Council’s report—issued yesterday—and its explanation of what such a budget deficit means in real terms for Northern Ireland’s finances, and the difficulties that it creates.

    The hon. Gentleman asked me about bringing all the parties together, and I would be delighted to do so. The one thing that I suppose the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland can do is convene, and there are many conversations to be had. I know that all the parties are very willing to talk to me, and I hope they are also very willing to talk to each other. So I shall certainly take that opportunity, but I also enjoy my individual conversations with them, and believe them to be very important indeed.

    The hon. Gentleman asked about updating the House and the Northern Ireland parties on the ongoing negotiations on the EU protocol. First, it is not for me to update the House on those negotiations; it is the Foreign Secretary who is conducting those. Secondly, on the basis of my experience—I spent a decade in the European Parliament, and have now spent 12 years in this place—I reckon that it is probably quite unhelpful, in many respects, to provide a running commentary on negotiations. However, I understand the sentiment behind the hon. Gentleman’s request, and I will ask the Foreign Secretary to see what can be done to offer appropriate briefings to the parties concerned.

    The legislation that I will introduce is intended to create the time and space needed for the talks between the UK and the EU to develop, and for the Northern Ireland parties to work together to restore the devolved institutions as soon as possible. I think it only right that, as we move forward, I do update the House regularly on those matters.

  • Chris Heaton-Harris – 2022 Statement on Formation of the Northern Ireland Executive

    Chris Heaton-Harris – 2022 Statement on Formation of the Northern Ireland Executive

    The statement made by Chris Heaton-Harris, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in the House of Commons on 9 November 2022.

    Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker, with permission I would like to make a statement on the issues arising from the failure of the devolved government of Northern Ireland – the Northern Ireland Executive – to form.

    Mr Deputy Speaker, the overriding priority of this Government is to implement, maintain and protect the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement.

    Northern Ireland is governed best when governed locally.

    Since May, that has not been possible. But our commitment remains absolutely clear: this Government believes that this is the moment for the restoration of the devolved institutions and will work to that end as a matter of the utmost priority.

    My predecessors have all referred to critical times for Northern Ireland. And there have been many. But this year is indeed a critical one.

    Mr Deputy Speaker, I can see you are thinking that you might have heard that last section of my statement before. And that’s because you have – those words were spoken by a former Secretary of State, the former Member for Neath, at this dispatch box back in 2006.

    And whilst these times are different with different issues affecting Northern Ireland, I and this Government believe strongly that people in Northern Ireland deserve a functioning Assembly and Executive, where locally elected representatives can address issues that matter most to the people that elect them.

    That is why, back in May, people cast their votes in Northern Ireland – to give their communities a voice in Stormont.

    However, for six months the Parties have not come together and, on the 28th October, the deadline to form an Executive, set down in law passed. That was the Northern Ireland Ministers, Elections and Petitions of Concern Act 2022. This is hugely disappointing.

    As a result, Mr Speaker, I am bound by law to call new elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly, as set out in the New Decade, New Approach agreement, that have to take place within 12 weeks of the 28th October.

    Since 28th October I have been engaging widely in Northern Ireland, with the Parties, businesses, community representatives and members of the public. And I’ve also  spoken with other international interlocutors.

    I think it would be fair to say, Mr Speaker, that the vast majority of those I have spoken to think that an election at this time would be most unwelcome.

    What people would welcome is having their devolved institutions up and running – because they are worried when they see a massive £660m black hole in this year’s public finances at the same time as their public services are deteriorating.

    They are worried that almost 187,000 people in Northern Ireland have been waiting for over a year for their first outpatient appointment.

    And they are worried that there is a higher share of working age adults in Northern Ireland with no formal qualifications than anywhere else in the United Kingdom.

    There is also, Mr Speaker, a legitimate and deep concern about the functioning of the Northern Ireland Protocol. This is felt across Northern Ireland and very strongly indeed in the Unionist community.

    The one thing that everyone agrees on is that we must try and find a way through this current impasse – where I have a legal duty to call an election that few want and everyone tells me will change nothing.

    Thus, I will be introducing legislation to provide a short, straightforward extension to the period for Executive formation – extending the current period by 6 weeks to 8th December, with the potential of a further six week extension to 19th January if necessary.

    This aims to create the time and space needed for talks between the UK Government and the EU Commission to develop and for the Northern Ireland Parties to work together to restore the devolved institutions as soon as possible.

    As I stand here, Mr Deputy Speaker, the Northern Ireland Executive has no Ministers in post.

    This means no Ministers to make choices that deliver the public services people rely on; to react to the budgetary pressures facing schools, hospitals and other key services; to deliver the energy support payments that have been made available by this Government to people across the rest of the United Kingdom.

    Before leaving his post, the Northern Ireland Finance Minister highlighted a £660 million in-year budget black hole, but there are no longer Ministers in the Executive to address this.

    As civil servants do not have the legal authority to tackle these issues in the absence of an Executive, I must take limited but necessary steps to protect Northern Ireland’s public finances and the delivery of public services.

    So, as has been done before, the legislation I introduce will also enable Northern Ireland Departments to support public service delivery; make a small number of vital public appointments, like to the Northern Ireland Policing Board; and address the serious budgetary concerns I’ve already mentioned.

    And, when so many are concerned about the cost of living in Northern Ireland, I know the public there will welcome a further measure I intend to address – another matter addressed by the former Secretary of State who I quoted earlier.

    People across Northern Ireland are frustrated that their Members of the Legislative Assembly continue to draw a full salary whilst not performing all of the duties they were elected to do. I will thus be asking for this House’s support to enable me to reduce MLAs’ salaries appropriately.

    Mr Speaker, let me end by repeating that the overriding priority of this Government is to implement, maintain and protect the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement.

    This has been the bedrock of so much of the progress in Northern Ireland over the last quarter century.

    There are some, Mr Speaker, who have called for “joint authority” of Northern Ireland in recent days and let me just say: this will not be considered. The UK Government is absolutely clear that the consent principle governs the constitutional position of Northern Ireland, under which Northern Ireland is an integral part of the United Kingdom. We will not support any arrangements that are inconsistent with that principle. In addition, we remain fully committed to the long established three stranded approach to Northern Ireland Affairs.

    As we approach the 25th Anniversary of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, I’ve found myself reflecting on the fact that political progress in Northern Ireland has so often required courage, understanding and compromise.

    I hope the measures I have announced in my statement today allow some extra time for these qualities to be displayed once again, and I commend it to the House.

  • Doug Beattie – 2022 Comments on Gangland Violence

    Doug Beattie – 2022 Comments on Gangland Violence

    The comments made by Doug Beattie, the Leader of the Ulster Unionists, on 7 November 2022.

    The weekend comments from Mary Lou McDonald that there is ‘no comparison’ between IRA violence and gangland violence has rightly been rejected, as has her claim that Jonathan Dowdall would not have been “anywhere near” Sinn Fein had her party known he was involved in any form of criminality.

    The whitewashing of the IRA’s part in the butchering of men, women and children and the continual harm and hurt visited on families is appalling and what we are witnessing is the Disneyfication of murder, seeking to romanticise brutal crimes.

    Mary Lou McDonald is deluded if she thinks that IRA atrocities such as the Abercorn, Claudy, La Mon or Enniskillen were not crimes. The shooting of Angela Gallagher, Jean McConville and Mary Travers – to name but a few – are crimes that would shame the devil, but not it would seem Sinn Fein.

    Gun attacks by drug gangs are no different to gun attacks by the IRA, because both are the work of illegal criminal gangs.

    I fully understand that Sinn Fein has a vested interest in trying to sanitise the bloody past of the IRA, but they face some inconvenient facts in the process. The first is that that 60 per cent of Troubles related deaths were the work of republican terrorists. The second is that the IRA in supposedly defending the Catholic population, killed more Catholics than all the other actors combined.

    Sinn Fein may attempt to pretend that black is white but they should not be surprised when they are challenged every step of the way by those for whom the truth is not a stranger.

  • Doug Beattie – 2022 Comments on Confirmation on No Elections Before Christmas

    Doug Beattie – 2022 Comments on Confirmation on No Elections Before Christmas

    The comments made by Doug Beattie, the Leader of the Ulster Unionists, on 4 November 2022.

    The Ulster Unionist Party told the Secretary of State that a pre-Christmas Election would not solve the problems we face which are due to the NI Protocol, so we welcome the fact that he has confirmed there will not be such an election.

    We now have an opportunity to create time and space to resolve matters because currently there seems to be no plan to get the Executive up and running to help address the very real problems being faced by the people of Northern Ireland.

    Under the current legislation we still face a deadline of 8 December and a possible Assembly election on the 18th January. That would also be a mistake because an election would simply cost money and stall negotiations on the protocol.

    None of this changes the basic fact that we need to reach a solution that gives Unionism confidence so all parties can return to the Executive and work for the people of Northern Ireland.

  • Doug Beattie – 2022 Comments on the Northern Ireland Protocol

    Doug Beattie – 2022 Comments on the Northern Ireland Protocol

    The comments made by Doug Beattie, the Leader of the Ulster Unionists, on 3 November 2022.

    We are entering a pivotal period.  As negotiations are once again underway between the United Kingdom and European Union, we have the opportunity to finally deal with the problems caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol and see devolution restored.

    But any progress potentially stands to be put at risk by needlessly calling an Assembly election that will change nothing but stands to further undermine the return of devolution and cost the taxpayer £6.5million.

    Something needs to change.  The opportunity exists to pause the calling of an election and allow negotiations between to the United Kingdom and European Union to continue in earnest.  We believe that the time is right for the UK to trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol to facilitate this.

    Article 16 states that either party in the negotiations may act unilaterally “If the application of this Protocol leads to serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist…”.  I think it is unquestionable that we are experiencing societal difficulties that are liable to persist.

    A negotiated outcome which removes the Irish Sea Border will be the remedy, not rerunning an election we had six months ago.  It is clear that the atmosphere and willingness to address the problems created by the Protocol are currently in a much different place than they have been.  They should be given time and space to continue as long as progress is being made.  After all this time I think it would be madness for the UK Government to jeopardise that because they have got themselves on a hook over the election that they are too embarrassed to be seen to climb down from.

  • Diane Dodds – 2022 Comments on IRA Murders and Democracy in Northern Ireland

    Diane Dodds – 2022 Comments on IRA Murders and Democracy in Northern Ireland

    The comments made by Diane Dodds, the DUP MLA for Upper Bann, on 5 November 2022.

    In Christmas 1996 the IRA came into the Royal Victoria Children’s hospital to murder my husband and I as we sat by our son’s bedside. It’s high time Michelle O’Neill and Mary Lou McDonald accepted there was an alternative to unleashing gunmen in a children’s hospital and condemned the murderous and reckless act.

    The DUP made clear there was no basis for government last February when we were the largest party. Unlike Sinn Fein we have always respected the ballot box and the rule of law.

    The DUP accepts the last election result but rejects the NI Protocol that Sinn Fein wants rigorously implemented. False claims about the last election come straight from the Sinn Fein textbook of lying about political opponents.

    Stormont can only function with unionists and nationalists so until the Protocol is sorted there is no solid basis for moving forward.