Debate contribution: Windsor Framework: Ongoing Harm

Debate contribution by Mr David Honeyford on 17 November 2025.

MLA

Mr David Honeyford

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

17 November 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Windsor Framework: Ongoing Harm

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5245269

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I am feeling really special today about the call-outs and the constructive debates that we are having, yet we spend all of the time focused on ourselves. I repeat what I said in Committee: I was not the one who brought this situation about. I did not want any barriers to trade. I will continue to look at how we can simplify this. Unfortunately, here we go again with the DUP. We have not heard from the TUV yet, but it will say exactly the same, as will the Ulster Unionists. They continue to talk Northern Ireland down and look to promote problems, rather than to deliver anything. They want everybody else to come up with solutions; they do not have any thinking or thought for them.

No, I will not give way to you. The values behind the slogan, "Making Northern Ireland Work", have not changed since the 1960s. It simply means, "Make Northern Ireland work for us". That attitude can be seen with the Irish language, the GAA, Casement Park, hosting the Euros in west Belfast or simply letting our kids share a classroom, and it all reinforces the default entitlement —.

No, I am not giving way to you. I have heard enough of you, Peter, to be honest. It is the default entitlement that we see and hear about again and again. When we look at the motion, we need to be honest about the facts and not inflate the problems for clips that are simply for TikTok and Instagram reels: facts such as that Marks and Spencer describes itself as viewing its entire store network on the island of Ireland, North and South, as one and, therefore, does not use the green lane. Sadly, the DUP leaves that bit out, but facts matter. The Member referenced one of the trade guys and mentioned the problems that they have, and they have a lot of problems. I asked them a simple question about why there were no problems coming into Dublin, and they said it was because there was one thing. The Member needs to be careful about moving stuff that is trying to make Northern Ireland work to another constitutional difference. I say that because that was the alternative that that same person said. Again, the Member left that part out. Ultimately, Alliance wants to be back as members of the EU, but what we have is the best that we are getting. We need to get on with delivering for the people, using the advantages to deliver growth. Northern Ireland's ability to sell into the UK internal market and the EU single market is a huge opportunity. It is a unique opportunity that differentiates us from others, and, unfortunately, the positives are what the DUP is pushing against. In fact, the DUP, alongside the Ulster Unionist Party and the TUV, goes out of its way to talk that advantage down and to dismiss it, and we hear it again and again. However, the fact is that dual market access is already starting to drive investment, jobs, expansion and decisions to manufacture here. There are multiple examples in my area, such as PRM, with 1,000 lines of Marks and Spencer products from Europe, based in Lisburn and tripling its plant with major expansion. Leprino Foods, formerly Glanbia, moved its production to Magheralin and is expanding and growing due to dual market access. Last week, Coca-Cola announced another expansion, having extended before, with Monster drinks, to ship to the all-island economy and to GB. The Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the Federation of Small Businesses and individual business leaders do not want the framework to be scrapped; they want stability, and they want the issues to be ironed out. Each of them is calling for the highlight to be the EU access advantages. Even in the FSB report, 71% of 700 businesses across the whole of the UK said that dual market access is an advantage, not a barrier, and that they wanted it to be sold. Businesses want certainty, not constitutional fear dressed up as economics, poking everybody else in the eye just for the video clips that MLAs can post on TikTok and Instagram. I will be gutted if I am not in today's. Alliance will continue to promote this region as a place to do business, to grow your business and to attract inward investment, because here are the facts: Northern Ireland has been in deficit since the 1930s, almost 100 years. Regardless of your constitutional position and regardless of the constitutional future of this place, that is not sustainable. It must change now. That is our focus, and we need to drive that across the House in order to deliver growth: putting people front and centre, having jobs, skills and opportunities to live in a place that is affordable for everybody and collaborating across the island to deliver better for everyone. Alliance is focused on delivering the improvements that business asks for, not re-fighting Brexit. We will all succeed when we do not turn it into an identity battle and instead start acting like a modern economy. I will not support the motion.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:48 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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