Debate contribution: Cost-of-living Increase: Impact

Debate contribution by Mr Gordon Lyons on 17 November 2025.

MLA

Mr Gordon Lyons

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

17 November 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Cost-of-living Increase: Impact

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5245880

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you very much indeed, Mr Deputy Speaker. I welcome the opportunity to respond to the debate. First, it is clear to everyone in the Chamber that we all care about the issue; of course we do. I certainly do not question anybody's determination or ambition to tackle it. We have deep care and compassion for those who suffer most, because we all, I hope, got into politics because we wanted to make people's lives better. That is certainly where I am coming from. I want to enhance and uplift our communities and make Northern Ireland the best possible place for people to live and bring up their families. I do not doubt the sincerity and commitment of others in the Chamber, and I trust that they do not doubt mine. We all know, as I certainly do from the contact that I have had with my constituents and with community and voluntary organisations, how deeply the increase in the cost of living is affecting everyone across Northern Ireland. Financial pressures are particularly acute as the winter weather sets in and as we find ourselves in the run-up to Christmas. The whole Executive, including Ministers from the party opposite, which tabled the motion, must recognise that. I have said this before, but I find myself having to repeat it: my Department alone cannot tackle poverty and socio-economic disadvantage. The motion mentions my anti-poverty strategy, but let me again remind Members — the SDLP did so, as did Kellie Armstrong — that all parties in the Executive have collective responsibility for the strategy. We all signed up to its publication and its going out to consultation. I asked all Executive parties whether they wanted further strategic actions to be included.

No further actions were added to it, and Ministers agreed that the strategy be published and go out for consultation. It is important that we recognise that it is not the strategy of one Minister alone. I am more than happy to take forward our proposal and stand in this place answering questions on it.

I will give way.

I do. I am grateful to the Member for doing that. Maybe it highlights the fact that it is only Sinn Féin that is unaware, or unwilling to admit, that it is an Executive strategy. I had to laugh when Mr Gildernew was speaking, actually, because he exposed that. When something good happens, the Executive can take the responsibility. When something bad happens, it is all down to me. He said that, in 2022, Deirdre Hargey brought forward welfare mitigations. However, last year, when I brought forward welfare mitigations, it was the Executive who did that. That exposes where he is coming from. Fair enough that he wants to highlight that, but the important —.

I am more than happy to give way.

Ah, the Executive allocated the money.

It is true. It is also true that I was the one who brought forward the paper and secured that funding. Look, I am happy to work with others to ensure that that is the case. It is, however, important to remember that we all have to tackle poverty together. Even if we do that as an Executive, we alone cannot tackle it. It has been said in the Chamber that poverty is a political choice. With the best will in the world, and even with all the money that they have, the Executive are not going to be able to tackle poverty alone. It will require everybody working together; not just the Executive and voluntary and community organisations but the people who are affected. Many people out there are struggling with poverty, and there are things that we need them to do. We need them to come forward and use the Make the Call service to ensure that they get the support that they need. We need them to look at the opportunities that can be presented to them. I will talk a bit more about the anti-poverty strategy shortly, but I want to first address some of the work that my Department is taking forward. Work on a fuel poverty strategy is well under way and due with the Executive before Christmas. Mr Gildernew, in particular, asked about that. That will contain a brand new energy efficiency scheme for low-income households. As I have said before, we cannot tackle poverty if we are not tackling fuel poverty. Fuel is one of the things that we spend most of our incomes on, so it is important that we tackle fuel poverty and bring that support forward. Since its launch in 2015, the affordable warmth scheme has supported over 30,000 households, with more than £136 million invested to date. The discretionary support scheme delivers tens of millions of pounds of emergency financial assistance year after year. In 2025-26, £2·8 million was allocated to support social supermarket projects in every council area. There was a £100 winter fuel payment for every pensioner household in Northern Ireland after the SDLP's sister party decided to cut that support. That kind of support plays a vital role in safeguarding the well-being and dignity of people who are in financial distress, especially amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. I ask everyone in the Chamber to remember the Make the Call service when they are speaking to constituents who are struggling. It is one of the most effective ways in which to ensure that we get support to those who need it most. Make the Call generated £62·1 million extra of annualised benefits for 12,025 people in 2023-24. Vital work is being carried out by voluntary and community organisations. Once again, I express my gratitude to those from that sector who continue to provide support and advice, which supplements what government can deliver. Finally, one of the most important things that my Department does is help people to ensure that they have a safe and secure home to live in. Good housing is fundamental to the health and well-being of any society. Consistently, it seems as though I am the only one who is talking about that. I want to ensure that we have sufficient money for the social housing development programme. Again, I appeal to the Finance Minister and other Ministers to ensure that we have the money that we need to deliver properly on our housing targets.

I have had conversations at ministerial level to highlight the demand that we have and make sure that that is met. Returns are also submitted to make sure that we can achieve our housing targets. More than that, I am not just saying, "Give me more money"; I am saying, "What are the other ways in which we can subsidise housing? How can other Departments help, maybe with public land?" If they are not able to give up cash, perhaps we can look at the transfer of public land. I hope that that will get Executive approval. Look at what we are doing to utilise financial transactions capital for intermediate rent in particular — a new programme has been brought in — and at what I am doing to revitalise the Housing Executive. I will do everything that I can on the issue because, if you get housing right and people have warm homes to live in, that will deal with so many of the other issues that we are facing. We need to make sure that we have a strong and growing economy that provides well-paid jobs. Only a few Members touched on that issue during the debate. Maurice Bradley put it best when he said that we need to make sure that jobs are available to people and that there is a safety net if people cannot work. Working is the game changer. We have heard a bit about Tory austerity and the austerity from the current UK Government. We are in the difficulty that we are in right now because growth has been so low and because there are so many people who have not been helped and supported into work. We talk about the tens of millions of pounds — sometimes, the hundreds of millions of pounds — that we need to deal with some of the issues that we are facing. Look at the disability and work strategy, and the plan that we have: if we can get the number of disabled people in work from 40% up to 50%, that will generate savings of £750 million a year. That is massive. One reason why we are in the position that we are in and do not have enough money to do all the other things that we want to do is that we have to support so many people who, although they can and, often, want to work, have not been given the help and support that they need. That is why I extended the JobStart programme this year. We know how effective it has been: over 80% of people on it either stay in employment or go into further education or training. That has the potential to be a real game changer, never mind others who could work but are not working. We need to do something about that issue. Not only does that help our economic return but it is better for people in the long run to be in employment — it is good for their health, including their mental health, and well-being. The stats are astounding. There is an exceptionally strong correlation between the number of people who are unemployed or not working and deprivation in certain areas. We see that in our constituencies. We know that the most deprived constituencies are often those that have the highest levels of economic inactivity, so let us do something about that. That will release the funds to do some of the other things that we want to do. I will address some of the concerns and the comments that were made about the anti-poverty strategy, although I sometimes question whether I should; I feel that, given that I have said it so many times in the House, Members are not listening any more. Of course, there will be measurable targets and outcomes in the final anti-poverty strategy and/or action plan. I am more than happy to make sure that we are held to account on those issues. The Executive are not responsible overall for poverty, because it is not only the Executive who tackle those issues; there will be other worldwide factors outside our control. However, we should be held to account, and there should be objective measures and targets, which need to be recognised and implemented. I have no issue whatsoever with those being included; they need to be. That is the right thing to do. However, there will be more changes to come, because it was a genuine consultation; it was not the final product. We, as an Executive, said, "This is what we are able to do. This is what is funded. This is what we're putting forward. It's over to you — the public, and voluntary and community organisations — to have your say and tell us what you think". I look forward to the feedback's being published when it comes to support for the policies that we have set out. Of course, we will consider and analyse different recommendations that come forward and see what is doable and what will make a change. I look forward to that as well. I am very keen that we do not simply put together a list of policies that might sit on the shelf, not be funded and not make a difference to people at all. We could have developed a strategy that was a wish list with no recognition of reality. I could have made vague promises for action five or 10 years from now that no one would hold me to. I am not here to make empty promises. I want to make promises that I can deliver on. That is also why we will have an action plan that will be a living document that changes and develops as our evidence base evolves and, importantly, as resources become available. I encourage all Members in the Chamber to join in that work so that we can make a real difference. I will make a couple of comments on some of the issues that were raised. I am very keen to make sure that we put in place those things that actually make a difference. Sian Mulholland raised that: she talked about the lived realities. Absolutely that has been taken on board. She is right to highlight some of the issues that she has. I have no issue whatsoever; I do not bristle whenever she mentions Scotland. I am dealing with the basis of reality and the evidence that has been presented. That has not been overwhelming, nor is it a long-term solution. Our energies and our focuses, first and foremost, should be put on where we can tackle those root causes. That is why the strategy is formatted in the way that it is as well. I was also very taken by the comments made by Maurice Bradley, as I have already outlined. It is important that we support people into work. I have mentioned that already. I thank Andy Allen for recognising that work has been done and that it has been taken forward further than it ever has been before. I have already addressed the issue of clear outcomes and measured targets, and I understand that in relation, in particular, to food and fuel poverty, which he raised as well. I also associate myself with his remarks in relation to unpaid carers. My time is coming to a close. I finish with the hypocrisy of Mr O'Toole, who complains about air passenger duty, yet his own party members support flights between the City of Derry and Dublin. Perhaps we can have more consistency from the Member.

2,329 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:01 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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