SDLP Foyle MLA Sinead McLaughlin
It follows the answer of the Minister for Levelling Up to a Parliamentary Question tabled by Claire Hanna MP.
Said the Foyle MLA: “From the start, the British Government’s approach to the replacement for the European Social Fund has been disjointed, shambolic and tone deaf to the needs of our city.
“The decision to allow remote Ministers in London to take these decisions has been a predictable disaster, even after concerns were repeatedly raised for months about this clearly flawed scheme.
“The organisations that were funded by the European Social Fund have been making a difference in Derry for decades and many of their services were plugging gaps left by statutory agencies.
“The fact that the British Government has abandoned them in their hour of need is unconscionable.
“It is particularly galling for the Minister, in this response, to list the groups that were funded by the new UK Shared Prosperity Fund, without so much as an acknowledgement of those who were refused, including those such as Derry Women’s Centre that provided essential services to our community.
“It’s clear to see that the fund has not been distributed equitably, with women’s centres in our city having been totally left behind, as evidenced by this response.
“It is important to fully understand the scale of the blow that has just been dealt to the community and voluntary sector here.
“The Department for Communities is currently examining the policy frameworks for the support that this sector receives and I will be writing to its Permanent Secretary to ask what steps will be taken to assess the scale of the crisis now facing organisations and what representations are being made to repair the damage caused.
“Ultimately, we should be bringing this issue to the floor of an Assembly and to the Executive table.
“I don’t know how the DUP can witness such cuts being made in our community yet insist that people need boycott and division more than they need a government. An Assembly must be restored.”
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