Debate contribution: Constitutional Change

Debate contribution by Mr Jonathan Buckley on 18 May 2026.

MLA

Mr Jonathan Buckley

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

18 May 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Constitutional Change

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5548034

Read the official Assembly record

Text

The motion tells us a lot about the SDLP, a party that loves to lecture us on how out of touch we all are and how it alone is the party with its finger on the pulse of Northern Ireland opinion. Yet, at a time when families struggle with the cost of living, waiting lists are dire, businesses face enormous pressure and people want government that is focused on delivery, what does the SDLP do? It chooses to propose a motion that laments the democratic election results in Scotland, England and Wales, rather than one on bread-and-butter issues. Is that the best that we can expect from the SDLP? Have a so-called lacklustre official Opposition run out of steam so early? The motion warns about so-called right-wing populism, but people in Northern Ireland are already experiencing and living with the consequences of left-wing populism. The SDLP's policy positions and, indeed, the orchestra of incompetence in Alliance, Sinn Féin and the Green Party have led to laws under which tadpoles and bats have more rights than the unborn child. We have net zero policies that let everybody else drill in the North Sea while we import our energy from those countries at a higher price, giving us the highest energy prices in Europe, never mind stopping roads being built. We have a benefits system that undermines the incentive to work and in which those who do the right thing — they get up early and go to work — are taxed to the hilt, and they are simply asking, "What is the point?".

I will in a moment. Our families and farmers are working hard to feed the nation, yet the left-wing ideologues in this place want to tax the industry to death through incompetent, crippling inheritance tax and unrealistic environmental policies. Those parties are more concerned with cows burping than with farmers breaking even. I will give way to the SDLP to see whether it has a solution to the matter.

I say this to the SDLP: talk is cheap. It takes money to buy bread. The policies in which the Member's party have engaged —

— have resulted in low growth and in the building of roads being halted.

The Member talks often about the A5 in this place, yet he and Members from his party —

— are clearly the ones who object to it with their net zero madness, so —

— spare us the left-wing claptrap in the Chamber.

The allegations from the Member are clear, but what is the answer from the SDLP?

It is not to fix any of this —.

So —.

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. What therefore is the answer from the SDLP, apart from shouting from the sidelines? It is not to fix any of the problems but to call for a divisive border poll. Let me be clear: a single road or a single home will not be built and a single opportunity will not be given to a family here by getting rid of Northern Ireland. Rather, Northern Ireland will be fixed through fixing the policies that are holding it back. Before lecturing about populism, the House should start delivering for the people whom it serves. Less ideology and more delivery: that is what Northern Ireland needs. The SDLP appears to be fixated on causing chaos and distraction today. It is the party that left its seats in the House of Commons to go and sit on the knee of Keir Starmer. What did it promise us? Growth and a new era. What did it get? Higher taxation, low growth, open borders and Ministers who think that men can be women, as though those are things to be celebrated. The motion fundamentally misses the point. Voters are not to be lectured about their concerns. They have not been hoodwinked. They are not too stupid to know what they are voting for or, in the SDLP's case, what they are not voting for. They know very well. They are expressing their frustration at successive Governments who have failed to secure our borders, failed to tackle illegal immigration, failed to support working families from being taxed to death and failed to stand up for farmers. Those are not extreme positions — far from it — but common-sense positions that are a direct reflection of the lived experience of many millions across Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and, indeed, England, so I ask the SDLP to spare us the melodrama. It is a tale as old as time: when mainstream parties ignore legitimate concerns, voters will naturally look elsewhere. Rather than engage in distraction politics and in condemning the electorate, Members should perhaps reflect on why so many people are fleeing from their left-wing lunacy towards policies of common sense. We can then perhaps get on with the job of government.

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

Assessment

Flagged Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:32 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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