Maginness: Sinn Fein and DUP Fiddle While Economy Burns

Sunday 22 February 2009

SDLP North Belfast MLA Alban Maginness said the Executive is sitting on its hands under tight two-party control while the economy sinks and unemployment mounts.

He said: "Over the last couple of weeks we got figures showing the sharpest rise in unemployment for nearly forty years and a 64% rise in mortgage arrears. In well-functioning political systems this sort of news would send the Finance Minister back to the drawing-board to re-examine the assumptions underlying the annual budget.

"Unfortunately, we don't have an annual budget precisely because we don't have a well-functioning system. We have a three-year budget which is now badly out of date and which was deeply flawed to begin with. We have an Executive in the tight grip of two parties which are so terrified of disagreeing on any plan of action to deal with the downturn that they prefer to have no plan at all.

"We are in constant danger of Sinn Fein and the DUP walking us into an even deeper crisis. It is bad enough that they are agreed on a do-nothing approach, what is much worse is that they are quite prepared to block those who put forward rational responses to the current economic situation.

"Mortgage arrears will continue to rise and more and more people will face the threat of repossession. The Minister of Social Development has put forward a Mortgage Rescue Scheme which could help cope with the problem of repossessions. Unfortunately, Sinn Fein and the DUP have turned it down for funding in the last three monitoring rounds.

"Unemployment is rising most sharply in construction-related trades and services. There is broad agreement among economists that there is no better and faster way to boost the local economy than building social and affordable housing. Even Finance Minister Nigel Dodds has recognised its effectiveness. But he has not made it the spending priority it needs to be, he has not rebalanced the housing budget to take account of falling asset sales. Faster movement on the £270 million backlog of schools maintenance, which is made up of a large number of small contracts, could also do a lot to boost small businesses at local level.

"Economists tell us the recession will last until 2010. Unfortunately, so will the flawed budget which Sinn Fein and the DUP foisted on us in 2007. We are facing hard times and we should be able to expect the Finance Minister to make some hard choices. His budget is no longer fit for purpose. Every section of it needs re-examination in the light of the downturn to find savings that can be put to better use to boost the economy. Then we need to return to the prudent practice of annual budgets which prevails throughout the world."

ENDS

Further information:
Alban Maginness: 07890 878955
Or SDLP Press Office 028 9052 1837