Debate contribution: Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers

Debate contribution by Mr Edwin Poots on 13 May 2022.

MLA: Mr Edwin Poots
Party at the time: Democratic Unionist Party
Date: 13 May 2022
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Speaker's Business
Heading: Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4140076

Text

It is somewhat cynical of parties that, for years, have been complaining that you cannot have majority rule to now call for majority rule. That, essentially, in the speech that we have just heard, is what Mr Muir was seeking in the House. He was railing against the Good Friday Agreement — the very agreement that they preached to us had to be accepted and that, along with subsequent agreements, has been accepted over the past 24 years. We are now in a circumstance where we require the consent of both communities to move forward on the issue that is in front of us today. We also need to deal with the elephant in the room: the Northern Ireland protocol. We hear people calling out the cost of living. The reality is that the protocol will affect people's cost of living, not just in 2022 but in 2032 and 2042, if we do not deal with these issues now. It is incumbent upon us all to act. This should not be an orange, green, unionist, nationalist or "other" issue. This is an issue for all of us. When Marks & Spencer went to a House of Lords Committee this week, it said that it takes 20 staff and eight hours to load one lorry. Do you think that those costs will not be passed on to consumers in Northern Ireland? Do you think that when the Trader Support Service, which is spending £500 million a year, ceases to have government support, businesses will absorb that? Will they pass that on to consumers? When the grace periods that cover so much of this are removed and we go back to the normality that is sought by the protocol, we will have barriers placed on every mouthful of food, including food such as that which you consumed over lunchtime today. I pose this question: how does that impact on the European Union single market? Every Member should be joining as one voice and saying that the Northern Ireland protocol does not work, cannot work and needs to be replaced. We should stand together to deliver that. Rather, we have this nonsense about its rigorous implementation. Some parties called for the rigorous implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol. Let us be clear about what would have happened: 40% of the medicines used in our hospitals — the generic medicines that come from Great Britain — would be denied access to Northern Ireland.
The same people who, a few years back, talked about rigorous implementation, thus denying medicines and medical equipment to our hospitals and the ability of supermarkets and retailers in Northern Ireland to bring in goods barrier-free, are now saying that they are concerned about healthcare and the cost of living. We need to deal with that issue. We have to deal with that issue. We will deal with that issue, and we will use whatever leverage we have to ensure that all the people of Northern Ireland will get a good deal: not just unionist, nationalist or other but every single person.

511 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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