SDLP Foyle MLA Sinéad McLaughlin has said that Secretary of State Shailesh Vara and caretaker Ministers at Stormont must urgently engage with the business community after a coalition of trading organisations published an action plan to deal with the current crisis in the cost of doing business.
Said Ms. McLaughlin: “The fact that the business community has come together in this way should illustrate to everyone the scale of the current crisis facing tens of thousands of small and medium sized businesses right across the North.
“Every day, business owners are facing increasingly difficult choices as a consequence of record inflation and spiralling costs.
“We are facing a hugely difficult winter ahead and without action from the government, many businesses will simply not make it through.
“In the same way that workers and businesses were supported throughout Covid through urgent and unprecedented government intervention, we now need to see a commensurate response to this crisis which will arguably pose an even greater challenge to our business community.
“Through their action plan today, the business community is acknowledging the severity of the current crisis, yet the British government seems totally divorced from this reality.
“It is simply unforgiveable that at this critical time for businesses, the Tories are too mired in dysfunction and infighting to pull together a plan to tackle these challenges while the DUP continues to boycott our institutions.
“Business leaders are right to call for a return to devolved government and further action from caretaker Ministers.
“Forcing small businesses to the wall cannot become the collateral damage of the dysfunction at Stormont.
“In this vacuum, the business community should be commended for stepping up and showing the kind of leadership and collective action that is sorely lacking from our governments.
“It’s now imperative that political leaders listen to the voices of our trading organisations and act on their recommendations.
“I have written to Secretary of State Vara urging him to take urgent action on the issues within the remit of the British Government and get a grip on this crisis before more businesses pay the price.”
