SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood MP has said that the budget presented by British Chancellor Jeremy Hunt today demonstrates how far removed from reality the tories have become and said that 2024 will be the year to put an end to Conservative government.

The Foyle MP said that the Chancellor’s brass necked budget statement attempted to claim that the economy is fine and people are better off when the lived reality could not be further from the truth.

Colum Eastwood MP said:

“Jeremy Hunt’s brass necked budget statement defies all belief. A Tory Chancellor stood for an hour telling MPs that everything is fine, the economy is growing, the sun is shining and the government is doing a great job. This government could hardly be more removed from reality and it is time they were removed from power.

“A 2p cut in national insurance will be cold comfort to people facing higher prices, higher household bills and a desperate squeeze on public services. With longer hospital waiting lists, stretched housing waiting lists, declining public sector pay and underfunding of priority capital projects, this budget will be received even less favourably in communities across Northern Ireland.

“Successive Tory governments have crashed the economy, gutted public services, targeted the poor and vulnerable for excessive pain through austerity and now expect a clap on the back for tax breaks in the dying days of more than a decade of pain for working people.

“This budget is a desperate last roll of the dice for the Tories. It’s time to get them out of government - an election can’t come soon enough.”