Debate contribution: Cost-of-living Crisis

Debate contribution by Mr David Honeyford on 21 April 2026.

MLA

Mr David Honeyford

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

21 April 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Cost-of-living Crisis

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5497641

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Energy is the basis of our economy. It underlies absolutely everything, and literally everything is built on it. The cost of everything is affected by it. I talk a lot about energy in this place, including in the Committee, and I enjoy doing so. The cost-of-living crisis is hurting people, and energy spikes have been referenced. Timothy mentioned that the crisis did not happen just as a result of this war: no, it happened the last time that there was a war as well, when Russia invaded Ukraine. In one year, the UK Government spent £60 billion subsidising energy costs for ordinary people. That is £60 billion that the taxpayer now has to pay back, so we need to look at this in the round. Inflation has risen dramatically in that time. That drives up food costs, and it drives up everything that people buy. Inflation also drives up interest rates, which puts mortgages higher and pushes rents higher. It leaves everybody with less money in their pocket to enjoy on themselves. In the debate, there has been quite a bit of agreement across the House on the need to do something to help. One group that has not been mentioned is our local businesses and the jobs that they provide. We need to make sure that businesses, especially manufacturing and advanced manufacturing businesses, are not priced out as their margins disappear. Care workers who drive to work are absorbing the costs, and that was never in their contracts. They were already hurting from that before the spike in fuel costs made it worse. Those are people in our constituencies who are struggling every day of the week, and they are the people whom we need to champion. Last week, as has been referenced a few times, we had a debate on the costs of net zero. That is a complete distraction from Trump's war, which has spiked oil prices. The answer to that was to double down on oil and gas and to, basically, give us more of the same and deliver more of that. A report from the University of Oxford showed that, if we were to drill for oil in the North Sea, there would be a benefit to the consumer of, off the top of my head, £14 or £16. That is £16, and a transition to renewables would bring a benefit of £500 a household in the UK. We have to stop the dependency on oil and gas, because the only people who are laughing on their way to the bank are the oil companies.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Thank you for the intervention. I absolutely agree. I have called so many times for a master plan for energy. We need a plan so that policy is not from little bits from here, there and everywhere but is driven and plan-led rather than it being left to developers to come up with each individual part of it. It needs to be driven from the Department to transition us to renewables. It needs to be done on an all-island basis. We need a plan here, but we cannot provide an energy solution just in Northern Ireland. We have to work with the South to deliver that. I absolutely agree. Gerry talked about the profits, and I want to talk exactly on that. There has to be a windfall tax. Last week, BP reported that it made an additional $340 million profit for every one dollar that a barrel of oil went up in price. Just think of the value of that. A barrel was around $60 two months ago. It has been steadily over $100. It has been $120 at a point in time.

That is the value of the profit, and that is one energy company.

People talk about Norway as the example for digging. Norway has a wealth fund of about $1·9 trillion that it uses to support its people. Norway has 95% renewable energy, with bills that are half of what our people pay. "Dig, baby dig", which we hear constantly, is a perverse argument. There is no benefit to people other than price spikes. We have called repeatedly for a windfall tax. Sorcha has called repeatedly for exactly that at Westminster. If a company is making money, and you sell the assets off to a private company, if you dig more, the company makes more. At $340 million for every dollar, that money needs to be taken from the rich and the companies that are profiteering and given to ordinary people here to allow them to get on with their daily lives. We need to reduce the costs for people and help people. The focus of the Chamber must absolutely be on ordinary people and making sure that we do our best for them.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:25 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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