SDLP MLA Pat Ramsey.
The Northern Ireland Executive has been called on to provide a fair, regional budget which caters for the needs of the North West.
The call came Derry MLA Pat Ramsey, the SDLP’s Employment and Learning Spokesperson. during yesterday’s Budget Bill debate at Stormont.
Mr Ramsey told the Assembly the Executive had to “recognise the intrinsic need for issues of deprivation, historical indifference to be given attention’ in Derry and the wider North West.
He added people in Derry looked to Stormont for leadership that was “equitable” and that bolstered confidence not just in the economy, but in the daily lives and opportunities of all.
Speaking afterwards, Mr Ramsey said: “In my contribution this morning to the Assembly, I made clear my frustration and that of all the citizens of Derry in the Executive that it surely cannot be incomprehensible to Ministers why the people of Derry feel Stormont is not working for them when we see massive capital funds granted to projects such as the move of the Jordanstown university campus to Belfast, whilst Magee’s bid for a new teaching block was rejected, when we see infrastructure projects stalled and when we hear continued vox pops from Ministers about job creation which we see no sign of in our city.
“We need a fair regional budget, one that addresses the non-existent confidence that the people of my constituency have in the Executive when it comes to providing a fair, regionally balanced administration that will provide opportunities for all.
“This budget needs to take the needs of my constituency and the wider North West and tackle them head on, not simply giving vox pops about regional job creation.”
Mr Ramsey concluded: “We have a job, infrastructural and investment deficit in Derry which at its very heart this Budget does not address, and the Executive cannot ignore.”
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