14 September 2026
SDLP Leader of the Opposition Matthew O'Toole MLA has said the four Executive parties cannot outsource responsibility for governing Northern Ireland to the Treasury as the Assembly debates the continuing failure to agree a Budget.
Leading an SDLP Opposition Day debate today, Mr O'Toole will say there is compelling evidence that Northern Ireland needs a fairer and more sustainable funding settlement. He will warn, however, that the Executive's inability to agree how it will use its existing resources is damaging public services, preventing serious planning and reform and undermining its case for greater funding from the UK Government.
Matthew O'Toole MLA said:
"This Executive continues to make the same circular argument. Ministers tell us they cannot fix public services without more money, while their failure to agree a Budget means the people running those services cannot properly plan how to use the money they have. Then, when rightly challenged about that failure, Ministers point back to Westminster. At some point they have to stop behaving like commentators and start acting like the government.
"The Opposition has no difficulty saying that Northern Ireland needs a better funding settlement. The Fiscal Council has produced serious evidence about how we are funded compared with other devolved regions and the UK Government must engage with it. We should be making that case forcefully. But Ministers would make a much stronger case if they could demonstrate that they are capable of doing something as fundamental as agreeing a Budget.
"What is most troubling is that this is becoming characteristic of how the Executive operates. Difficult decisions are allowed to drift, responsibility becomes blurred between four parties and eventually the problem is presented as something being done to Stormont by somebody else. Meanwhile, the people actually running public services are expected to manage the fallout.
"The Finance Minister needs to urgently set out to the Assembly how he intends to get a Budget agreed, but every party around the Executive table has a share of the responsibility here. There will never be a Budget where everybody gets everything they want. Governing means making choices, defending them and accepting responsibility for the consequences.
"The SDLP will continue to make the case for a fair funding settlement and challenge the UK Government where that is needed. But we will not pretend that every problem facing our public services can be laid at Westminster’s door. Stormont has power, it has resources and it has responsibilities. Our job as the Opposition is to demand better from both governments and to make sure that Ministers within the Executive are held to the responsibilities they asked for."