Debate contribution: Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers

Debate contribution by Mr Robbie Butler on 17 January 2024.

MLA

Mr Robbie Butler

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

17 January 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Assembly Business

Heading

Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4177569

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I also put on record my deep regret at the loss of David Hilditch. He was an MLA from the DUP whom I enjoyed working with. We shared a passion for speaking about firefighters, and David brought a motion on cancer among firefighters. To the DUP Members to my right and to his family we extend our deepest condolences. That rather neatly also brings me to my first point. In 2002, as a firefighter, I was balloted for strike action. I had just started in the service, and the union was negotiating for us. As firefighters at the sharp end of public service and protection, we had to take the difficult decision to say that, yes, we would take strike action. That was in 2002 for fair pay and conditions. One of the abiding memories of that is looking at the loss in pay at the end of the month for the days that were missed, which was five or six days in my case, but, more importantly, on my annual pension statement, which I still get to this day, I see those same five or six days that I lost. I lost my own contribution, and I lost my employer's contribution.

I have a break in my pension service. When people take strike action, they do not take it lightly. It costs them more than people think it costs them. We would do well to listen to that. When I get my annual pension statement, I think "Why did it happen?" and "Who caused it?". Tomorrow, around 150,000 to 160,000 public servants will take action on an epic scale. The impact of that will be felt not only by those individuals but by their families and by every one of us. In fact, the 1·9 million people who live in Northern Ireland will feel that same pain tomorrow through loss of service, extension of waiting lists and children not being in school. The people who take action tomorrow will lose pay, as I did in 2002, and will similarly get an annual pension statement that will reflect a breakage in service for every day that they have to take strike action. In February 2022, the DUP pulled down the institutions by removing the then First Minister, Mr Paul Givan. By doing so, it also removed the normal and reasonable ability of the representative bodies to seek fair pay and negotiate fairly for public-sector workers, whether that is with a Minister, a Department or whomever it is that they would lobby. Whilst we have consistently, from the start, asked the Secretary of State to decouple the issues of public pay and further finances, my party and I do not blame the Secretary of State for the position that we are in today; rather, it is due to two years of political veto. The blame for the impact of the strike — I will not mince my words, because I may not get a chance to speak in the Chamber again, and I should have declared an interest, because my daughter and wife will take action tomorrow — lies squarely with the party to my right, the DUP. I always strive to be fair and balanced, and I do not think that anybody in the DUP would deny me that. It is only fair, therefore, that I also state that I do not think that the blame lies squarely with every member of that party; in fact, it lies less so with the MLAs. If I were a betting man, I would wager that most of the people to my right have not even seen the deal that is on offer and has been negotiated. Those negotiations have finished. In my opinion, the blockage lies with a small number of DUP MPs and Lords who are far removed from the impact on public services and lives here, the impact that their veto is having on people across Northern Ireland and, I would say, on the respect that unionism should seek to hold. Why do I say that those people are far removed from the impact of their veto? Well, I am not sure whether you saw the pre-Christmas news that was lauded around. Eight members of the party beside me may have celebrated that news, which was that there may be a 7·1% pay rise for MPs in April, which would see their pay rise from around £86,000 to £92,000 a year. It would be wrong and churlish of me and a lie to suggest that some MPs do not deserve their pay. Some absolutely do, it would be fair to say and to put people on notice that the people who will take strike action tomorrow, who will see their pay cut and who are struggling to make ends meet — some of them have to visit food banks and come to our offices for assistance — will ask two questions and will ask them in perpetuity: "Why am I doing it?" and "Who is responsible?". Those annual pension statements that they will get year on year will reinforce those thoughts that they have. I ask the party to my right to consider what I have said and the abiding impact of the strike action on those people not just tomorrow but in the future, when they get their annual pension statements, think back and ask "Why did I strike?" and "Who was responsible?".

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

Assessment

Not qualifying

Jev’s structured answers

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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