Debate contribution: Cost-of-living Increase: Impact

Debate contribution by Mr Colm Gildernew on 17 November 2025.

MLA

Mr Colm Gildernew

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

17 November 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Cost-of-living Increase: Impact

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5245768

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

Christmas is only a few short weeks away, and I am sure that most of us are looking forward to taking some time off to relax and spend time with our family. For many of us, the next few weeks will be full of festive spirit as we make plans, put up decorations and buy gifts for friends and family. Unfortunately, far too many families are facing the Christmas period feeling anxious about all the extra costs that come with celebrating Christmas. Recent statistics show that families in the North spend, on average, £850 more during the month of December on things such as gifts, food, nights out and travel, which comes on top of all the usual heating and other bills that many people are already struggling to pay. As our motion highlights, the current rate of inflation is 3·8%, which is significantly higher than what it was this time last year, when it was only 2·5%. In practice, that means rising costs for basic necessities such as food and fuel for already hard-pressed families. We have to understand that the cost-of-living crisis is very much still with us and that it continues to wreak havoc on the least well-off in our society. This morning, I held a round-table discussion with some of the organisations that are on the ground tackling poverty every single day. They painted a picture of a worsening situation and were very clear that more needs to be done to help those in need. They spoke of a feeling of hopelessness amongst many of the people whom they assist and of a belief that no one is listening to their very real concerns. Research carried out by the Trussell Trust in 2024 showed that 21% of households in the North were experiencing food insecurity, which was a dramatic increase from 2022, when the figure was only 16%. Its research also showed that 77,000 emergency food parcels were delivered to households facing hardship in 2024-25, including to over 31,000 children. That is an increase of 71% over the past five years. The most recent poverty and income inequality report for the North, which was released in March this year, shows that the rate of poverty here has been rising steadily over the past five years and that 18% of adults are currently living in relative poverty, with 15% living in absolute poverty. The same report also revealed that 23% of children, or almost one in four, are currently living in relative poverty, with 17% living in absolute poverty. Those figures are shocking, and they underline the urgent need for more ambitious measures to tackle poverty. We must also recognise that British austerity and underfunding must shoulder much of the blame for the growing levels of poverty in our society. Policies such as the two-child limit have pushed thousands of children into poverty, stealing from them many of the life chances that they need in order to live fulfilling and prosperous lives as adults. So far, this British Government have taken the winter fuel payment from pensioners and attacked the sick and disabled. Just last week, they threatened to raise taxes for the least well-off. It is no wonder that Keir Starmer is the most unpopular Prime Minister in living memory. Some media reports have suggested that they may remove the two-child limit. Although that has not been confirmed yet, it is absolutely essential that the British Government fully scrap that disgraceful policy once and for all in the upcoming Budget. We must ensure that we do everything in our power to alleviate the worst impacts of poverty in the North. Earlier this year, the Minister for Communities published the first draft of the anti-poverty strategy. To say that people were underwhelmed is an understatement. The strategy was weak in both substance and ambition. Indeed, many anti-poverty organisations stated that the strategy was not fit for purpose, including many of the organisations that helped to co-design it. The draft anti-poverty strategy does not contain any targets or measurable outcomes. That is despite the fact that a recent report on child poverty by the Public Accounts Committee, which I also sit on, made a recommendation that targets and outcomes should be included in the strategy. The absence of targets and outcomes renders the strategy largely meaningless. It leaves it reading more like a stocktake document that lists a range of departmental actions that are linked to poverty, with many of those actions already enacted or currently in operation. The strategy does not give any clear indication of what level of funding will be forthcoming to support its implementation, nor does it state how it will obtain that funding. Sinn Féin understands that the Executive are in a difficult position financially, but it is vital that the anti-poverty strategy provides costed proposals so that we have a full understanding of how much finance is needed to fund actions that could reduce poverty and deliver prosperity. Another key criticism of the current strategy, which I heard from the sector again today, is that it does not follow a life-cycle approach. That means that it does not take into account how poverty can affect people differently at different stages of their lives. We need to see the adoption of a life-cycle approach that recognises the unique causes of poverty and barriers to exiting it at each life stage and ensures that actions are tailored accordingly. Fuel poverty is another huge issue that affects many families across the North, with recent figures suggesting that it has also significantly increased in recent years. National Energy Action (NEA) carried out a survey in September 2024 that found that nearly 40% of households in the North were experiencing fuel poverty. Fuel poverty often results in people cutting back on the amount of money that they spend on essential items such as food or clothing so that they may be able to afford to heat their home. Those figures bring into sharp focus the urgent need for a modern, fit-for-purpose fuel poverty strategy that will make a meaningful impact on reducing fuel poverty. The Minister needs to urgently bring forward a final draft of the fuel poverty strategy. Indeed, it would be helpful if the Minister could update the House on when that is likely to happen. It is also important to mention some of the steps that the Executive have taken to alleviate poverty in recent years. Welfare mitigations were initially secured in 2016 in order to protect the most vulnerable here against Tory austerity. Welfare supplementary payments were automatically paid to anyone who would otherwise have been impacted on by cruel welfare changes such as the bedroom tax, the benefit cap or the roll-out of the personal independence payment (PIP). The Welfare Supplementary Payments (Amendment) Act 2022 that was brought forward by the previous Communities Minister, Deirdre Hargey, extended most of the mitigations until March 2025, with the bedroom tax mitigation being extended indefinitely, ensuring that over 37,000 social housing tenants are permanently protected. In this year's Budget, the Executive allocated £47·3 million to welfare mitigations, signalling their continued commitment to funding those mitigations in full whilst extending them until March 2028. Those mitigations are vital for so many people in our society. In many cases, they are the difference between having enough food to eat and going to bed hungry. The Executive have also protected households from unfair taxes, such as domestic water charges, that would disproportionately impact on those who can least afford to pay. Another huge step forward was the work done by Sinn Féin Ministers in the Finance Department to secure an agreement with the British Treasury that the North's funding will be increased to more accurately relate to levels of need. Although it is important that we recognise the important steps that the Executive have taken, it is clear that more needs to be done. Tackling poverty and supporting people during the cost-of-living crisis need to be the number-one priority of every one of us here today. Far too often, the issues that have been debated in the Chamber have only served as distractions from the very real suffering that people endure every day.

We have a duty to do all that we can to come to their aid and to return a sense of hope that things can be better for them and their families.

1,408 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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