Debate contribution: Cost-of-living Crisis

Debate contribution by Ms Sinéad McLaughlin on 21 April 2026.

MLA

Ms Sinéad McLaughlin

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

21 April 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Cost-of-living Crisis

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5497659

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and thank you to everyone across the House who contributed to the debate. It is clear from your contributions that the impact of the cost-of-living crisis is felt in every constituency. That is no surprise, given that we have talked for years about the cost-of-living crisis. It did not happen a couple of months ago; it has been going on and on and on for quite some time, and we have heard all about it across the airwaves. As everyone who spoke said, it has been characterised by difficult, dire and, in some cases, harrowing circumstances for far too many people. Households, families and businesses feel those impacts, which have been relentless over the years. They have been constantly crushed by the burden of high bills, and there is absolutely no let up and no clear end in sight. Across all our constituencies, we hear the same stories. People are rationing their heating oil because they simply cannot afford to fill the tank. Parents are skipping dinners so that their children can eat. Small businesses are watching their energy bills soar, wondering how they can possibly keep their doors open. In that context, the impact of the war in Iran has felt like another hammer blow to families, businesses etc that just cannot seem to afford to deal with it anymore. Since that illegal war began, the cost of oil, as Members outlined, has soared. Household budgets have been squeezed from every angle, and the price spikes in energy and essentials have threatened to push more and more families to food banks. The simple maths is that, for far too many families, while the cost of their outgoings is spiralling out of control, what is coming in every month is simply not matching up. All the evidence suggests that the UK is likely to be hit particularly hard, with the biggest hit to growth amongst the advanced economies and the joint highest inflation in the G7 this year. Of course, here, at home, we know that Northern Ireland will be hit hardest of all for a number of reasons. Our heavy dependence on home heating oil leaves us much too exposed, our energy infrastructure leaves households extremely vulnerable to global price shocks and our lower average incomes leave people here with less financial resilience to begin with, with nearly half of adults having less than £1,500 in savings. Gerry Carroll spoke about processed food, and one in five households experienced food insecurity in 2024. While households across the region have, no doubt, been spared some of the impacts, the places hardest hit are the poorest communities, places such as my city of Derry, where poverty rates are double those of other areas, where communities are fragile and employment options are more limited. The pain is not distributed evenly; it falls hardest on those who are closest to the edge, not least people in rural areas, those in domiciliary care, the elderly and the more vulnerable when faced with those challenges. The impact of the Iran conflict means that the people whom we represent are simply running out of options, and they need support. Of course the UK Government need to act with greater urgency. Two things can be right at the same time. The UK Government have a great deal of responsibility here, but so do the Executive. I agree with Linda Dillon, Deirdre Hargey and others across the House that the profiteering on the backs of the poor is disgusting and that of course we should consider a windfall tax to meet the needs of those who are most in need.

No one in my party agrees with that profiteering, and nobody is absolving Britain of any responsibility. I can assure you, Eóin Tennyson, that, wherever they sit, our MPs, Colum Eastwood and Claire Hanna, will continue to press the case with Westminster and to work with parties across the Chamber. People deserve more than the politics of blame, and they need a better response than, "Blame it on the Brits". Emma, I have the greatest respect for you. I love your drive and your passion, but simply pointing the finger at London again and again is just not good enough. It has been a tired and tested method in this place. It might have been politically convenient in the past, but people see through it now; in fact, people are starting to realise exactly what it means to shift all the blame onto central government.

If I have time towards the end, Emma. It is a deliberate move and a calculated step that risks gaslighting the public in an attempt to absolve the Executive of their responsibility. As I said, two things can be right at the same time. In reality, the Executive also need to step up. The heating oil package of £100 for some households — I would probably argue with the figure of 70% of all households — is welcome. However, let us be honest: it does not come close to meeting the scale of need, and it only scratches the surface of what people are crying out for. Executive parties are failing to rise to the moment. Families are looking to the Executive — their Executive — for support and leadership, but the response has been found badly wanting. I agree with David Honeyford that we have made little or no progress on energy — it is shocking — and we have made little or no progress on an anti-poverty strategy and on retrofitting our social housing. Those are things that the Executive should stand up and do. They are the practical things that Diana Armstrong talked about. It is about practical things. Responding at a time of crisis is a leadership action, but if, in day-to-day government, you cannot respond by delivering for the people who elected you to do so, you are also failing. Seeking election to the Assembly and entering government here are about taking responsibility, not shirking it. We therefore need to ask what more we can do. Deborah Erskine, you must not have had your wee listening ears on today either, because our motion includes specific proposals on a range of areas that could make a difference to hard-pressed families, including measures such as the extension of rural fuel duty relief and steps to address the particular challenges faced in the more rural regions, such as the need to reduce public transport fares and to provide targeted support for the most affected industries. All those issues would be easier if the Executive agreed a multi-year Budget, which would allow us to plan strategically and collaboratively and to work together to support the things that matter to the people whom we all represent. Diana Armstrong made a really good point about practicality and solution-based working. That is what the motion is about. It is about solutions. Our having to submit the motion two weeks ago, before there was a package here, did not allow us to acknowledge that fact. That has to be said, because it is another dysfunction of this place. It does not respect the position of the Opposition to make points as the urgency arises. Finding solutions would be helped if more fiscal powers were devolved to the region. We have been calling for more fiscal powers for the region, but the Executive have so far failed to achieve that. In fact, I do not hear the Finance Minister talking about what financial powers he would like to be devolved to give him more responsibility. That is also a failure of government. The challenges that families face should serve as a wake-up call, highlighting the need to tackle the more pervasive inequalities across society and to build a fairer economy that deals with the crisis at its roots. Ultimately, politics comes down to choices. The choices that the Executive face might be called difficult, but they are nothing compared with the hard choices that families in our constituencies experience every day — choices between heating and eating and choices about bills and other basics. Right now, too many of the people whom we represent feel that those choices are not being made by the Executive who are ducking them. Those choices are being ducked, and they cannot keep on finger-pointing while the rest of the fingers are pointing back at them. It feels like, while the British Government may have been uninterested, which they have been, the response from the Executive here has been nothing short of complacent. Honest to God, it is shocking to see how laid back our Executive have been during the current crisis. That is not good enough for the families and businesses in our communities. It needs to change, urgently and without further delay.

1,467 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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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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