Time to confront budget cuts

Wednesday 1 September 2010

SDLP South Antrim MLA Thomas Burns said there is an onus on the Executive to confront the prospect of spending cuts and re-cast the budget.

He commented: "The full implications of the spending cuts and their effect on Northern Ireland will not be known until the comprehensive spending review in October.

"However, all the warning signs are there and have been for a long time - yet no real decisive action has been taken.

"Ministers can talk about people having their heads under the duvet but nobody has been as guilty for sticking their head in the sands as this present Executive.

"The SDLP has long called for a fundamental recast of the budget on an annual basis in order to deal with the current economic crisis.

"The distribution of unspent departmental cash under the monitoring round system is merely tinkering around the edges.

"The only way to protect essential frontline services and cut waste and bureaucracy is to look at our spending in its entirety.

"Only the SDLP - in our New Priorities document - has taken this issue seriously and identified where savings could be made and examined innovative ways of raising additional funds. We now challenge others to bring their ideas to the table before it is too late.

"In the coming weeks the SDLP will set out in detail our economic vision for Northern Ireland which recognises that we must all make this place as good as it can be for our hard pressed families and firms.

"We must build our economy so that it can deliver jobs and prosperity - for all our people now, not later."