DEPUTY First Minister Martin McGuinness said the political institutions in the North are facing a growing crisis.
He has been speaking this morning in the Assembly during the debate on the Welfare Reform Bill.
The DUP has put forward the bill for its final passage through the Assembly.
But Sinn Fein and the SDLP have table “petitions of concern” in a bid to block the Welfare Reform Bill.
Speaking to MLAs, Mr McGuinness said Sinn Féin concerns were “bigger than the issue of welfare”.
“Our concern is wider than that. It’s around the grave implications of further cuts threatened by the Tories.”
He said Sinn Féin’s anti-austerity approach was mandated by almost 25 per cent of the popular vote in the general election compared to the 1 per cent of the voted achieved by David Cameron’s Conservative Party.
“This is a party that doesn’t have a single assembly seat or local council seat,” said the deputy first minister.
“They have no democratic mandate for their austerity policies here in the north of Ireland,” he says.
Mr McGuinness added that the Stormont Assembly should join with the Scottish and Welsh governments “in opposition to Tory austerity”.
“The Scottish executive has already requested a tripartite meeting between the representatives of the Scottish, Welsh and local assemblies.
“We should be taking this offer up and developing a common position,” he tells MLAs.
First and Deputy First Ministers’ Question Time has been dropped from business today due to Peter Robinson’s heart attack yesterday.
He underwent a “procedure” yesterday at the cardiac unit in the Royal Victoria Hospital and remained their overnight.
Party colleagues said his condition had “stabilised”.
Finance Minister Arlene Foster is expected to temporary take over as First Minister until Mr Robinson is well enough to return to his duties.
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