SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood MLA has said that the Executive’s twenty minute budget amounts to five years of undeliverable pledges heaped on top of eight years of undelivered promises.
He said: “Today’s Budget follows eight years of undelivered promises and offers five more years of undeliverable promises, months before an election.
“That’s why we voted against it. There’s no clear indication from where funding beyond this year comes from for any of the flagship projects.
“What’s worse is that it was agreed on the nod just twenty minutes after the final draft was received by Ministers without consultation.
“Far from opposing austerity or making the most of the more limited devolution powers that we now have following the disastrous trade off on welfare, this budget treats families across Northern Ireland with contempt.
“Parties were presented with the first draft of the document 12 hours before a vote was taken at the Executive table.
“That is more than a political snub, it’s a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise the people we represent.
“Agreed behind closed doors in less than a day, this makes a mockery of the duties of the Executive to the people who live and work here.
“The public are unlikely to believe the spin of those who once again claim to secure the ‘best deal possible’.
“New money, heralded in ‘A fresh Start’, has already started to fall apart.
“This budget sees a significant reduction in the commitment to mitigation to welfare agreed only last month.
“The cut from £60 million to £30 million of the funds for tax credit mitigation, with no guarantee that even that will be ring fenced for the Evason proposals, is a cop-out.
“The SDLP cannot support a budget that has a starting point of a 5.7% cut in unprotected Department baselines.
“It frustrates any attempt to grow skills and stimulate economic regeneration across the region.
“We cannot develop a robust economy without proper investment in education and skills, with one third of our young people forced outside Northern Ireland, there’s a clear demand for funding in the sector.
“It also means further cuts to Arts organisations, devastating the local sector following earlier cuts.
“In the absence of an Executive consultation, the SDLP will carry out our own consultation in the coming weeks.”
