Debate contribution: Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers
Debate contribution by Ms Kellie Armstrong on .
- MLA
- Ms Kellie Armstrong
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 7 December 2022
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Assembly Business
- Heading
- Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4178474
Read the official Assembly record
Text
If we manage to elect a Speaker today and go on to elect an Executive, the subject of today's recall motion will be answered. We can all get back to work, put our collective force together and create a solution to enable the £600 energy support payment to go out to all households. Sadly, however, from what I have heard today and as a result of the use of cross-community voting in this place, I do not expect the DUP to end its boycott, and I expect every household in Northern Ireland to face a cold winter without the same level of help that is being provided to others across the UK. The DUP's 2022 manifesto states:
"Now is not the time for more division and uncertainty",
yet, here we are, a House divided and constituents facing uncertainty over how they will pay for oil to heat their home. I say to each DUP Member — MLA colleagues in the House today — that now is not the time for division and uncertainty. End your boycott. Using fellow citizens as leverage is not working. Our health service is crumbling, and many health staff will be heading out on strike. Tackling the cost of living is being hampered, not helped, by the DUP's boycott. In the 'News Letter', Niall Deeney reported on a statement made by the homeless sector this week as part of Homelessness Awareness Week. He wrote:
"in a joint statement, the Chartered Institute of Housing (NI), Homeless Connect, NIFHA and Housing Rights have expressed concern regarding the delays of the £600 energy bill payment, which will now not reach consumers in Northern Ireland until after Christmas."
Thank you. I shall continue with the piece in the 'News Letter':
"Households here are being failed by the ongoing lack of financial support to help with increased energy costs; continuing delays to the scheme being rolled out are unconscionable, particularly given that households in England, Scotland, and Wales have rightly been in receipt of support since October this year ... Our members and the tenants and communities we work with are already being impacted by significant pressures on their households’ budgets and the delay in this payment further compounds this. Our members report increased instances where people are sitting in cold homes this winter."
Mr Acting Speaker, neither your constituents nor mine, nor any constituents in Northern Ireland, have received any part of the £600 energy support payment, because the DUP continues to use them as leverage in its political game with Westminster. It is clear that Westminster is in no rush to sort out the payment. Northern Ireland was never going to be able to opt into a GB energy payment scheme. It was always going to require a bespoke approach, because Northern Ireland has a different regulator, system and companies. Northern Ireland is more dependent on oil for home heating. Originally, the payment was supposed to come through the Barnett consequentials. I have no doubt that, if a local scheme had been progressed earlier this year, we would not be in this dreadful situation. Mr Graham Stuart MP made it clear in the Commons that the energy issue is a devolved issue. He said:
"We are acutely aware of the situation facing households in Northern Ireland. Of course, what they most need is good government in Northern Ireland for and by the people of Northern Ireland. It is the failure to have that Executive in this devolved area of responsibility that is at the heart of the issue ... Looking forward, the people of Northern Ireland need a period of good government and future prosperity."
Westminster did not intentionally delay the scheme. I put it to the House that the DUP dropped the ball. I would love to see some payment in some format before Christmas. It is unacceptable for people in poverty here to have to wait until January while the rest of the UK is insulated from the worst effects of the crisis. Alliance wants to see Westminster proceed with electricity credits before Christmas and continue to work on a cashback option in parallel. That could look like providing the original £400 credit on bills pre Christmas, with a £200 cash-out option to follow as soon as possible. I go out regularly across my constituency, surveying people and asking what their key issues are. The first thing that they tell us is, "Get the £600 out to households", and the second is, "Get the Executive back to work". Today I will vote for the proposed Speakers, because I want this place to get back to work. Today the DUP has a choice: elect a Speaker and let us all get on with helping constituents in Northern Ireland, or continue your boycott and leave constituents in the cold this winter.
802 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.11 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.89).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.92).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.09 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.06 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.09 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.05 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.89 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.11 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.92 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.05 |
| Adopts it | 0.03 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.63 |
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.19 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.16 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.01 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:33 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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