SDLP leader and Foyle MP Colum Eastwood
Mr Eastwood said that with public services in crisis, significant public sector pay protests and cuts to vital services proposed, a new budget should be subject to enhanced scrutiny and challenge.
Said the Foyle MP: “If the Secretary of State believes that it is appropriate to implement an austerity budget via a written statement without debate or challenge then he has made a serious error in judgment.
“Public sector workers in our civil service and our schools made clear on picket lines and at rallies yesterday that the attitude of this government to essential services and the staff who operate them is woeful.
“This approach is outrageously deficient.
“People are waiting to hear if funding for their jobs will continue, they’re waiting to hear if they’ll get help with the cost of living or or if public services will continue to be run into the ground by austerity cuts.
“The least they deserve is some democratic accountability and legitimate scrutiny of these decisions – decisions that should be made at Stormont.
“The SDLP is proposing robust safeguards for people and public services today. But this does not bode well for the conversations to come.”
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