3 April 2025 

SDLP South Down MLA Colin McGrath has said the Executive’s final budget for 2025/26 will not deal with the multitude of problems facing Northern Ireland.

He was speaking after the Budget was signed off at an Executive meeting on Thursday.

South Down MLA Mr McGrath said:

“While some small increases in funding for cutting waiting lists, special educational needs and protecting Lough Neagh are welcome, we cannot ignore the fact that the Executive’s final Budget is more of the same and lacks the resources to make any meaningful progress. Instead of focusing relentlessly on the most pressing issues, the Executive has handed out money on a piecemeal basis when a clear-eyed funding strategy is needed.

“Given the scale of the challenges and the decimation of our public services it’s clear that approaching our finances on a yearly basis isn’t going to work. We need the certainty of multi-year budgeting and I cannot understand why successive Ministers have failed to do what's needed to bring it forward.

“The Executive has also refused to take any responsibility for the position they find themselves in, choosing instead to place the blame for everything at the feet of the UK Government while patting themselves on the back for doing very little. Even today, as this budget was signed off they were more concerned with rowing over Irish language signs at a train station when it was their responsibility to make sure they were included in the first place.

“The stark reality is that if you are a patient on a health waiting list, a parent facing sky-high childcare costs or a family struggling to get on the housing ladder or pay your rent, there is very little in this Budget for you. Instead of ‘doing what matters most’ this Budget is more of the same and will leave us back here next year lamenting the same old problems and the Executive’s failure to solve them.”