The DUP MP said:

“The stark reality of today’s debate is that the budget given to Northern Ireland’s departments is simply not enough for the effective delivery of public services in Northern Ireland.

Some £297 million is scheduled to be taken out of our allocation this year and next. That is a huge chunk of a cake that is being taken away, from a cake that was already too small to satisfy the appetite of the demands of our public services, and the needs of my constituents. Our health care waiting lists groan, our schools cry out for funding for even the most basic of repairs or resources. Road investment plans scrapped; new school builds shelved.

And while the physical infrastructure of our public sector decays, our most important resource – our public sector workers – ask for equity in pay, but this Government refuse to act to deliver fairness. £575 million from public sector pay awards is needed. Yet the Government cut the cake.

The line that the Government cannot step in and deal with this doesn’t wash with anyone. Our public sector workers know that if the Government wanted to address public sector pay awards it could.

And whilst others might wish to lay the blame for all ills to befall Northern Ireland at the feet of the DUP, it is they who are exacerbating the situation by refusing to address the genuine concerns of the unionist community, whilst also ignoring the ongoing difficulties faced by a range of businesses and consumers as a consequence of the Protocol and Windsor Framework.

We come at this wanting a solution that establishes firm foundations for a new Executive. Firm political foundations, but also firm financial foundations which would be key to the impact that new Executive can have.

The Government must act now to protect the political process, and the delivery of public services people in Northern Ireland deserve.”