Opposition MLAs will tomorrow continue their outreach with sectoral organisations to understand the breadth of the cost of living crisis.

SDLP MLAs will meet with fuel poverty charity National Energy Action, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Equality Commission and the General Medical Council on the same day that the Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss arrive in Northern Ireland to convince a small number of Conservative Party members that they should be the next Prime Minister.

Leader of Stormont’s Opposition Matthew O’Toole MLA said that Sunak and Truss should be using the power of government to help people struggling with energy, food and fuel bills rather than arguing over tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the most well-off.

Speaking ahead of a series of engagements on Wednesday, Matthew O’Toole MLA said:

“When the Tory leadership hopefuls roll into town to take lumps out of each other in front of a vanishingly small group of people, there will be hard working families in every community across Northern Ireland watching on in horror at the deliberate paralysis of government at Westminster and Stormont while they struggle to make ends meet.

“Punch and Judy politics won’t help working parents put food on their table or fuel in their car. And yet it is all that the parties which have made government across these islands impotent are offering.

“In contrast, Stormont’s SDLP Opposition is at work with organisations at the front line of the biggest crisis facing people. We will be meeting fuel poverty charities, small businesses, health service professionals and others to listen to their experience of the last few months, their assessment of government support and what we can do to help those most in need.

“Caretaker Ministers in Northern Ireland and Cabinet Ministers in London can’t continue on their go-slow while people in our communities suffer. The SDLP will continue to offer a radical alternative to those in power.”