Debate contribution: Regional Balance Bill: Second Stage
Debate contribution by Mrs Julie Middleton on .
- MLA
- Mrs Julie Middleton
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 8 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Regional Balance Bill: Second Stage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5674494
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for her intervention. I share her passion. I am impressed by what I have read so far, and I really want to get the point across that I feel strongly about this. We all need to be on the same page. Often, we can fall into playing politics when, in fact, we need to make people's lives better. I want to see all of our commitments translated into actual decisions. We must make sure that the statistics illuminate the reality. Returning to the Bill's fundamental principle, I support balanced growth. I support greater opportunity for the north-west. I support investment in Foyle. I support policies that tackle deprivation wherever it occurs. However, I also believe that we should be ambitious about what regional balance means. It should not mean taking an investment away from one part of Northern Ireland simply to give it to another, and it should not be a problem to focus on an area where there is need. We should be able to enable every region to fulfil its potential. I will approach the Bill constructively, and I support its moving forward for scrutiny at Committee Stage. I want to see it strengthened; I want to see it working; and I want to see clear links to Executive spending and investment decisions. I want the framework to recognise deprivation in urban and rural communities, as was discussed. Most important, I want the Bill to be judged not by the quality of the framework that it produces but by the tangible difference that it can make. The people of Foyle do not need a promise about our region and its potential. As I said, we know that it has potential, but they need us to unlock that potential and make things happen. They need investment that reaches the ground. Having made those points, I look forward to the Committee's scrutiny of the Bill and working constructively to ensure that, if it reaches the statute book, it becomes a mechanism for delivery. I absolutely support the principle of regional balance. Let me be so clear: I love Foyle; I love the people who live there; and I want nothing more than tangible delivery that allows Foyle to truly thrive.
374 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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