Debate contribution: Net Zero Policies: Cost-benefit Analysis

Debate contribution by Mr Jonathan Buckley on 14 April 2026.

MLA

Mr Jonathan Buckley

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

14 April 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Net Zero Policies: Cost-benefit Analysis

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5482806

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I will come back in a moment. Why vote against transparency? Why vote against allowing the public to see clearly and honestly the true cost of policies that will affect every home, farm and business in this country?

Is it blind allegiance, or is it something else? Perhaps it is a reluctance to admit the scale of the burden that you are placing on working families.

The problem for the parties opposite is simple: they are living in a complete fantasy world. You cannot run a country on targets that have not been properly costed, and you cannot ask people to make sacrifices without being honest about what those sacrifices will mean and, more importantly, what the cost will be. You can snigger all that you like, but the working families in the communities of Northern Ireland who are on the street protesting out of fear for their livelihoods are not sniggering. Rather, they are angry at policies that you continue to prop up.

Mr Deputy Speaker.

That is exactly what is happening. We are told that it is necessary and urgent, but let us take a step back and look at the reality. The United Kingdom produces about 1% of global carbon emissions: 1%. Northern Ireland produces 0·04% of global emissions. Let me repeat that figure: 0·04%. Members, however, come to the Chamber and act as if we are the world's thermostat. Major countries such as China, India, Brazil and the USA are laughing at the continued folly of the many parties that are devoid of all common sense when it comes to the realities facing communities every day. Yes, we must care for the earth and are called to do so, but we are also called to care for the people who live on it. Right now, the agenda is failing those people. We cannot have growth without energy. We cannot help families by taking from them. What we are witnessing are uncosted, radical economic experiments dressed up as policy, and that policy is being pushed on people who never asked for it in the first place. It hits families, workers and small businesses. What are the consequences? Let us look at infrastructure, which is something that this country desperately needs. Sinn Féin's Minister for Infrastructure is overseeing a national fiasco in her Department, and that is not even to mention the potholes on our roads. The A5 road project, which is an Executive flagship project, was halted by the courts because of the very amendments on climate change and net zero targets that Sinn Féin backed. Over £100 million of public money was spent on the A5, but not one bit of tar was laid. That is completely scandalous. Mr McAleer comes into the Chamber as if he is the farmer's friend, but he was a co-signatory to the very climate change amendments that have held up the A5 project in the courts. We will therefore take no lectures from Sinn Féin about support for key road infrastructure. The A1 road safety project and the A4 Enniskillen southern bypass project have been halted, and many more projects will be affected, so I ask this again: who are you trying to bluff? Your net zero targets are not abstract. They are being used to stop roads being built. They are delaying critical infrastructure and holding back development. At the same time, what do we see money being spent on? Cycle lanes to nowhere. The reality is that your priorities are being dictated by the very targets that you claim to support, and that is only the beginning. If we do not change course, it will become an anchor around the neck of this place's economic prosperity. The Alliance Party speaks of carbon taxes and climate change plans.

I will in a moment, if I have time. What do carbon taxes and climate change plans mean to the ordinary person? They mean higher heating bills, higher food costs, fewer family farms, more expensive travel and less money at the end of the month. That burden will not be carried by the few, Members. Rather, it will be carried by the many, because, while ordinary people are being asked to cut back and do without, billionaires fly across the world in private jets to climate change summits and others want to launch rockets into the sky. Members, it is not a shared sacrifice. This is a two-tiered policy and the ordinary man and woman are footing the bill. Meanwhile, the SDLP tells us that the UK is not moving fast enough. Those Members call themselves social democrats. You cannot claim to stand with working families whilst simultaneously supporting policies that drive up the cost of living. John Hume once said, "You can't eat a flag." I would argue that you cannot feed a family with a climate change target. Those policies hit families, farms and front-line workers. We all want clean air, clean land and a better future for our children. That is not in dispute. However, good intentions are not enough.

I will in a moment. Policy has to work. It has to be grounded in reality, affordable and fair. My constituents are not choosing between luxuries. They are not choosing between the sports car and the second home. Members, they are choosing between heating and eating. That is the reality of what we live with today, yet the so-called socialists in the Chamber, such as Mr Carroll, have forgotten their roots and that every pound that is added to energy costs, food bills and transport comes out of the pockets of working families. The people of West Belfast will have their say on his policies. Let us get beyond the spin. When we talk about carbon reduction in those policies, action plans and targets, we are talking about increased costs. We punish ourselves whilst the rest of the world carries on. The motion is not extreme or unreasonable. It is a simple request that we look properly, across every Department, at the cost of net zero policies.

Let us focus on what is in the room, Mr Blair, and the cost of net zero policies. Let us provide transparency so that we allow the public to see the financial impact of decisions that are made in their name. Those policies will cost hundreds of millions of pounds, if not more, yet Members from the parties opposite are prepared to vote against the very basis of that scrutiny; to vote against asking Departments what the costs of those crazy, wacky, unattainable targets have meant for the people of Northern Ireland. They should hang their heads in shame. What are you afraid of? If you want to stand up and say that those policies are not costing but have a benefit, vote for the motion and allow your Departments to come forward with those policies. The public are waiting and will be watching every single vote.

1,156 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:20 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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