Steve Aiken
South Antrim · Ulster Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“I thank the Minister for his statement. Minister, as well as the move to reduce the cost to the Assembly of vacant non-domestic properties and to increase liability so that we will not have so many vacant properties, you will be aware of the Dilapidation Bill and of the conversations that have been taking place in Wales and Scotland about…”
“Instead, that most dysfunctional Department, under the most inept Sinn Féin Minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly and a series of grossly over-superannuated permanent secretaries, gave the money back.”
“We know that her Department spends more on legal cases, fighting judicial reviews and being chastised by judges for legal ineptitude and on vesting land and ripping out hedges and fencing and then trying to unvest it and paying even more money to put back the fences and hedges that it took out.”
“We can hardly blame the current permanent secretary, as she has just taken up her post, but, surely, her predecessors must bear some accountability or responsibility, especially considering the senior civil servants' salary scale of between £146,000 and £163,000, with, of course, their taxpayer-funded pension contribution of 34·2% — £218,…”
“It must be said that £181·3 million is a lot of taxpayers' hard-earned money. It is money that is raised from local commuters, vehicle owners, farmers, local businesses, logistics companies and, above all, our constituents — those vital people whom we are elected to represent.”
“The Minister will be aware that, under the public appointments guide published by the Executive Office, it is clear that she is supposed to take independent advice before appointing board members. What independent advice did she receive, particularly about the board members selected?”
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“However, based on the city deals debacle, what real confidence can there be that that additional funding will be received, especially given that the Government are quite happy to remove the winter fuel allowance while their members cloth themselves in freebie suits? I was going to make a joke about glasses, but I am wearing a pair. I paid for mine, by the way.”
“When the issue was raised by the Finance Minister, she was told to discuss it with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. I understand that that discussion is yet to happen. That worries our party, as it should worry others. A Budget assuming an additional £0·5 billion on the basis of assurances from a Treasury that will not engage on city deals must, I am afraid, be suspect. <BR /> <BR />Where are we today? First, even with the current Budget allocations, we do not have the resources for what, nine months ago, was our number-one priority: Health. Secondly, even if we get that additional £0·5 billion and it is hypothecated, the challenges will remain.”
“As finance spokesperson and through questions put by party representatives, we have repeatedly queried the confidence that the Minister has in assurances from the Treasury. I wish to make it clear that I am in no way — I mean this — calling into question the Minister's belief or her integrity in reporting her exchanges. However, as MLAs, we must all call into question the assurances from the Government. <BR /> <BR />Three weeks ago, I attended the British-Irish Association conference in Oxford and heard the Secretary of State wax lyrical about the benefits of major projects in Northern Ireland powered by the city deals, amongst other things. Alongside the Tánaiste, we heard the famous reset being emphasised. Less than a week later, the city deal was paused. Then, parts of it were reinstated.”
“We are aware of the negotiations between Departments and the Finance Minister, but there is no acknowledgement of the level of need or the requirement to prioritise Health and other hard-pressed services such as the PSNI. <BR /> <BR />The Finance Minister wrote to Ministers and informed the Finance Committee that she was proceeding with spending allocations based on discussion with His Majesty's Treasury, acknowledging that it was at risk and based on likely allocations from the Supplementary Estimates following Rachel Reeves's Budget next month. That additional funding is hoped to be in the region of £0·5 billion, at least £250 million of which we reasonably expect to come to Health.”
“Consistent with the Ulster Unionist Party's approach so far, we will vote against the Final Stage of the Bill. As a party, we have consistently pointed out that the Budget provisions are insufficient to cover the critical requirements of our health service. It is only nine months since the all-party talks that many of us sat through and at which all parties agreed that Health was the priority, but the subsequent provisions have not only gone against that priority but, when they were originally presented, made a real-terms cut to health resources. While we welcome the additional funding that came in the June/July monitoring round, it is far short of what is required to deal with the critical challenges that we face, and it came before the draft PFG was published.”
“It is well beyond time that that racist behaviour is stopped, and, rest assured, all the anti-Semites on this island, you will not win. Washington, Brussels and other capitals around the world have now taken note of how prevalent such hate speech has become on this island.”
“We then had the bizarre example of the Irish president, first, writing to the new Iranian president congratulating him on his election without even mentioning the malign influence that Iran has in the Middle East and Sudan or, indeed, in its support for Russia. Then, he complained in New York that a secret letter had been leaked by the Israeli embassy, blaming Israel for the letter he wrote and somehow implying that it had been stolen from his office. That was despite the fact that it was welcomed and published online by the Iranian embassy in Dublin. <BR /> <BR />All racism is bad, but anti-Semitism is the oldest and vilest form of hate. That it is aided and abetted by cartoon tropes redolent of 1930s Germany and a president who falsely maligns Israel just shows how deeply rooted the scourge of anti-Semitism has become on this island.”
“The vile, endemic nature of anti-Semitism has been further demonstrated across the island in the past week. While the public support for terrorist groups such as Hezbollah on bridges in Dublin is bad enough, two other incidents are perhaps equally troubling. First, on 20 September, 'The Irish Times' published a cartoon that members of our Jewish community rightly called a "malevolent trope", redolent of the hideous use of the Jewish caricature that has been part of the anti-Semitic imagery for centuries and Nazi propaganda — not my words but those of the Jewish community. Furthermore, 'The Irish Times', which calls itself a "paper of record", would not publish a letter of complaint from Holocaust Awareness Ireland against the cartoonist's anti-Semitic bile.”
“I declare an interest as the chair of the all-party group on aerospace, defence, security and space. <BR /> <BR />Minister, one of the big questions is about the Fleet Solid Support ship contract, which is the £1·6 billion contract that Harland and Wolff was part of, with £77 million allocated to Belfast. More importantly, the ships were going to be built and completed in Belfast. You said that Minister Murphy has already been in communication with the Secretary of State, but we have seen in the past week that the Secretary of State is not necessarily that well connected with the rest of the British Government. Will the Minister make an approach through the First Minister and deputy First Minister to go directly to the Prime Minister to ensure that the Fleet Solid Support ship contract comes back to and stays in Belfast?”
“I thank the Member very much indeed for giving way. One of the issues that we had recently with, for example, dental amalgam was that a derogation made by the European Union did not have a legal basis. What is the Member's party's position on supporting wider derogation? His party members on the Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee have taken a more absolutist route. Do you think that we should be much more open to derogation?”
“<BR /> <BR />While it is understandable that businesses, including those in the transport sector, do not wish to become involved in this highly charged political debate, the very real implications of these changes need to be understood and explained. The Windsor framework talks about the mitigation of the impact of significant changes. That is why we need to challenge this. Regardless of the partisan position adopted by some on the protocol, there is no doubt that the implications of the implementation of the Windsor framework, in supposedly good faith, will profoundly impact us all. We call on all MLAs to support our motion.”
“I thank the Member for his intervention. The economist Esmond Birnie said recently that there is no evidence whatsoever that there has been an increase for dual market access. If we are going to make this work, we need to get rid of those burdens of bureaucracy. <BR /> <BR />This is the very real challenge of creating significant trade disruption. That is why the First Minister and deputy First Minister, the Economy Minister, if we can prise him from Chicago, and the AERA Minister should be raising these issues. We are less than a month away from the introduction of these restrictions, yet we have not heard from the First Minister and deputy First Minister any words of reassurance or that they are making their concerns known to the Secretary of State or the European Union.”
“All those things that do not happen now are going to happen at the end of this month. I hope that Members have followed all those requirements. Many businesses, including large ones, are incredulous at the layers of bureaucracy and the added administrative burden and cost. Quite frankly, many are not going to bother. This information is never regularly used internally in the United Kingdom, and, for many distributors, it is a burden they are unwilling to carry, given the size of the market here. Indeed, some have indicated that the necessary amounts of information, coupled with the required membership of the new internal market scheme, are more onerous than those required to make customs declarations, which are much more —.”
“HMRC will work with carriers in preparation for tackling this risk.”
“You must have a high level of control of your operations, including through a system to manage commercial and transport records, and you must be able to demonstrate that you can show them. You must be able to determine whether the parcels should follow the B2C, C2B or C2C arrangements using information from the sender of the parcel. You need to collect and provide that data on things like parcel movements to HMRC, based on commercial information that you receive from the sender, collected from shipment postage as purchased, and also for various other goods and delivery systems. All those data requirements are helpfully laid out on a government website, which I could not access yesterday because it had crashed. You will also be required to work closely with HMRC to combat attempts to use the arrangements for consumer parcels for smuggling.”
“<BR /> <BR />You can only use that lane if you follow the 10 requirements of being an authorised carrier. You must be established in the UK, and if you are not established in Northern Ireland, you must have an indirect customs representative established in Northern Ireland. A customs representative, but bear in mind that that is not a customs requirement — or so we thought.”
“<BR /> <BR />The requirements also include: the name of a representative that the carrier will deliver the parcel to; supporting documents, with, where relevant, a reference number for documents such as certificates and licences that are produced in support of the movement; the numbers of the items in a parcel, which has to be done using the sequential numbers of the items contained in each parcel, for example, "1, 2, 3" — I am glad that HMRC spelled that out. They also include: total value of goods in the parcel; amount invoiced; place of delivery if different from the address of the recipient; gross weight of the parcel, with weight limits of individual packages not to exceed 31·5 kg if the parcel contains more than one item, or 100 kg if it contains a single item; and a goods description of each item. Are you following me so far?”
“They include: carrier name; date of delivery; name and address of sender in Great Britain; name and address of recipient in Northern Ireland; number of items; value, where known; parcel reference tracking number; and a six-digit commodity code, which is generated by the authorised carrier based on the goods description — you will be glad to know that HMRC is working with carriers to support them to produce those commodity codes.”
“<BR /> <BR />To support those four categories, up to 27 steps need to be taken in order to send goods and parcels to Northern Ireland from the rest of our nation, along with, for good measure, 10 additional requirements to become an authorised carrier and a requirement to register with the UK internal market scheme. You will be glad to know that I will not be reading out every one of the requirements, but suffice it to say that there are a few of them, and I will bring those up. <BR /> <BR />Some are quite obvious.”
“<BR /> <BR />At the end of this month, however, new arrangements will come into force. A quick glance at the government website will show what the new arrangements are. Some would have us believe that there will be only minimal requirements from the end of the month, when there are few or none now, but there will be four categories at the end of the month. Please bear with me on this, Members. The categories for goods sent by a business in Great Britain to a business in Northern Ireland are: business to consumer, consumer to business, consumer to consumer and business to business. I hope that you are following this.”
“and that many companies — public and, more forcefully, private — have said to us that it is likely to disrupt trade. It is already disrupting trade. However, the present Government and the previous one stated, quite categorically, that there are to be no disruptions to trade; there is to be a seamless market and there needs to be a seamless transfer. The previous Conservative Government went so far as to state that there was no border in the Irish Sea, despite every piece of evidence showing otherwise, and that seamless movement across the narrow stretch of water between us will continue. The present Labour Government stated that the combination of mitigations, derogations and — to use Secretary of State, Hilary Benn's, words — the operation of the Windsor framework "in good faith" would see that there was minimal or no disruption.”
“The regular transportation of goods into Northern Ireland from the rest of our nation by ferry and air freight, and in the form of everything from bulk loads to small parcels, is what maintains the so-far-seamless integration and interdependence of our economy with our largest trading partner, the rest of our country, the United Kingdom. <BR /> <BR />Today, the regular flow of lorries, ferries and aircraft means that whatever we have on supermarket shelves and in our storerooms is the same as that in England, Scotland and Wales and is generally a similar price with similar availability. That so-far-seamless stream has been maintained, but, as of the end of this month, the requirements of the UK internal market scheme — the green lane — will come into force. Of those changes, the logistics industry states:”
“Before I start, I am a bit disappointed that neither the First Minister nor the deputy First Minister made themselves available for the debate. As we go through it, we will understand that the issues of trade diversion that we are already beginning to see are significant. Those of us who have the misfortune to sit on the Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee, as some who are sitting here do, understand the importance and implication of that word "significant" and what it means. <BR /> <BR />The road haulage industry is a vital part of the logistics lifeblood of our economy. Without the smooth and timely operation of its services, much of our just-enough, just-in-time supermarket, manufacturing, food and e-commerce services would come to a grinding halt, with massive implications for every sector of life in Northern Ireland.”
“Minister, I would not normally have indicated to speak, but one of the issues that we have had recently is with DAERA, which was looking for an advance, particularly on the cash limit. Do you have any indication of whether any other Departments are approaching those limits? That might be germane to the debate, and, for the sake of clarity, it might be appropriate if we were informed of that.”
“which is something that I firmly agree with. Will you ask the Secretary of State, when you speak to him today, what he is going to do to rebuild confidence between the Northern Ireland Executive, the people of Northern Ireland and this Government, who do not seem to know what they are doing? It is unacceptable and it is not something that we should be having to deal with in this day and age.”
“I thank the Minister for her remarks so far. Less than a week ago, I was at Oxford and listened to the Secretary of State, who talked very clearly about the great approach that we are taking and the expenditure that we are going to make. He actually talked about the approach to city deals. Then, less than a week later, we are beyond this. Minister, you used the words:”
“Thank you, Minister, for your remarks so far. You will be aware that, particularly around Antrim and my constituency of South Antrim, there are concerns about the water supply that are linked to what is happening in Lough Neagh. There is a really significant issue of messaging here. How can we upgrade the messaging so that people are not concerned, so that the best messaging gets out there and it is clear that drinking water is safe?”
“Minister, obviously, with the Shared Prosperity Fund and the events of last week, there is a degree of, let us say, scepticism about the approach of the UK Government to the funding. Has the Minister had any opportunity to reach out to her Welsh or Scottish counterparts to have a combined approach to make sure there is an equitable division of future UK shared prosperity money?”
“The Minister will be aware of some of the changes in views on bovine TB that have been coming from DEFRA. Has the Minister been involved in any conversations on that? That is related to the answer that you just gave me on where we are with bovine TB. Will we adopt an approach similar to that adopted by DEFRA?”
“For budgetary reasons, it will be a difficult autumn in which to try to ensure that the Programme for Government matches the resources and the deliverables. All of us have a difficult task ahead, and that is why my party welcomes the motion and the amendment and will support both.”
“<BR /> <BR />I sense that, when she returns, the Finance Minister, in whom and in whose ability I have a lot of faith, will have to have really difficult conversations with her Executive partners and, indeed, the House about where we are and where we are likely to go. Those are the critical issues. Many people accuse the House of lacking realism. We all know what the problems are. We all know where the pressures are. We will have to come up with strong answers about how we will deal with the situations and pay for the issues as they go forward. <BR /> <BR />Minister, I wish you all the best on Thursday. Everybody in the House who wants to see Northern Ireland work wants you to do your best to get the right results, but it will be a difficult autumn.”
“The rest of our nation — England, Scotland and Wales — is pushing ahead with above-inflation settlements in health. The indications that we are getting from Treasury — you sometimes have to take what Treasury says with a large and notable pinch of salt, but there is no doubt about this — are about the importance of raising the resources that will be needed for health. When that comes back to Northern Ireland as part of our settlement, we will need to make sure that the appropriate levels are given to the Departments that are in most need. Every Department needs a lot, but there has to be a large degree of prioritisation and realism, particularly if we have to make a strong argument for delaying raising revenue.”
“There is no doubt — any of us who have dealt with the Treasury will understand this — that many questions will be asked about where we are going with revenue raising and, with the resources that we have, what we are doing to grow and develop them. Those will be difficult questions to face, because our Budget is not adequate for all the things that we need to do. <BR /> <BR />My friend on the other side of the House talked about prioritisation. Like many people in this room, I have sat at various tables, particularly at Hillsborough Castle just before Christmas, where we said, "Health is the number-one priority". Health is expensive. All public services are expensive. How we deliver and support that has to be the key. <BR /> <BR />There will be difficult choices about prioritisation, and we have to make those difficult choices.”
“The Ulster Unionist Party will support the motion and the amendment. The question for many of us is where we sit with the idea of relative need. Any of us who were on the Finance Committee will have listened to the Fiscal Council give the Committee its report and talk about where we sit. One question that we have to ask ourselves is this: are we at 124% already, or, as has been suggested by some on the Fiscal Council, might we be above that figure at 125%, 126% or 127%? For all Members, it is important, particularly as the Finance Minister and the First Minister and deputy First Minister go to meet Rachel Reeves this week, to make our case clear.”
“I thank the Minister for his remarks so far. Minister, in your modelling within the Department, have you worked out the number of people likely to be affected by this, and, with the impact of the particular fuel strategies that we have coming forward, how we are going to deal with that issue?”
“I was heartened recently when — you will not believe this — I was in the gym with a fellow MLA. The reason I was there was that so many young people were swimming and taking up swimming lessons because they had seen the examples of Danielle Hill and Daniel Wiffen pushing through. <BR /> <BR />I also thank all the supporters of Larne Swimming Club and all the people who have turned out in order to make sure that those young people are given every support. It is a great success story for Northern Ireland and Ireland and for Team GB and NI, and we should celebrate such things. Mr Speaker, thank you for your indulgence.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker, for your indulgence in letting me speak. I apologise for not being in the Chamber for the beginning of the statement. <BR /> <BR />I thank the great Larne Swimming Club and, in particular, Danielle Hill and Daniel Wiffen for the impact that they have made in their communities, particularly in swimming and bringing young people towards sport. I declare an interest: my youngest daughter swims with Larne Swimming Club. Although it is in a neighbouring constituency, I am a great supporter of Larne and everything that it tries to do. <BR /> <BR />The most interesting thing is the enthusiasm that young people now have for sports such as swimming. If they see somebody who is like themselves taking part in any athletic activity, it encourages them to get involved.”
“As politicians, we all must call people out for them. I would like to see an emphasis on anti-Semitism put alongside the other forms of horrific racism.”
“The fact that, across all of Northern Ireland, we increasingly rely on our friends from overseas who come to Northern Ireland to help us make it a much better place is something that all of us as politicians should be welcoming. We need to explain to those who do not understand that it is a net benefit to all of us, and we must make that so. <BR /> <BR />Finally, an additional issue that I would like to raise is that of anti-Semitism. In many ways, anti-Semitism is the canary in the coal mine for many of the issues that we have had. A year and a half ago, I spoke in the synagogue about concerns of anti-Semitism rising across Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland and about the impact that that was likely to have. There is no space in Northern Ireland for anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, xenophobia or anything else.”
“I then heard of an attack on the home and car of a healthcare worker in Ballyclare. That attack on someone who is in Northern Ireland specifically to help our people is despicable and utterly abhorrent. The fact that that person came from a Filipino background is absolutely irrelevant. The fact is that this is a migrant worker who came to Northern Ireland to help. This very day, in my office in Ballyclare, people will be complaining about healthcare services, social services and all the rest. We have people in our community who have come here to help, yet some very misguided people think, in some way, that it is appropriate to attack them. It is not. It has to stop, and it has to stop now.”
“I did not hear one complaint about receiving help, from whatever source it came.”
“I rise to add my party's support to the motion and the amendment. Yesterday, I saw two very clear examples of the challenges that our society faces and of how our very valued migrants are involved. I spent several hours yesterday in Antrim Area Hospital's A&E with one of my children. Throughout the hospital, healthcare professionals of many races, religions and nationalities worked assiduously to help our constituents, including my daughter, through their health challenges. The people I saw and talked to from south Antrim in A&E and across the hospital were grateful for the professional medical care that they were receiving.”
“Thanks very much indeed, Minister. The question that I was trying to get at was how you can have that degree of certainty from the Treasury. Do we have any correspondence or written guidance from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury that states, "These are assumptions that you can work to"?”
“I do not wish to put words in the Minister's mouth, but I assure you that, had the Minister the funding to continue those initiatives, he would look favourably on doing so. Working effectively together is not just an "all-island" health strategy; it is an "all-islands" health strategy.”
“We need to have some kind of assurance that we are top of this, but we cannot get that — I go back to my first point, which others have mentioned — unless we have proper data, proper governance and proper use and flow of information. If we cannot do our job effectively and scrutinise effectively, we cannot help you, Minister, and we definitely cannot help the Departments.”
“That question should be raised with the permanent secretary or the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service. There may, indeed, be a case for that. My concern is more fundamental than that, and it is that we are predicating the June monitoring round on moneys that have not been guaranteed. As I said, I would like the Minister to give the House some degree of surety that those funds will actually be there. <BR /> <BR />We expect that there probably will be a new Government in place come Friday, and there are already indications that we are moving to an early Budget, maybe even in September. If that is the case, what are the plans going forward to make sure that we are able to continue with this process? We will need another monitoring round, and I am beginning to suspect that we will need another Budget Bill.”
“<BR /> <BR />We are without a Programme for Government, and the June monitoring round is now happening in July, but there is another thing that raises my concern: the Minister is taking this at risk. I would also like the Minister to address why she has a degree of certainty that the Treasury, which will probably be under a new Government, will honour the various commitments.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Minister might make some remarks at the end about how we get to a proper needs-based approach for budgeting. I do not know how we will do that without a Programme for Government. The one thing I remember is that all the main parties who sat round the table at Hillsborough Castle said that they were committed to making health the number-one priority; indeed, many of those parties said in their manifestos that Health needs an extra £1 billion. Now we are scrabbling for extra moneys. As the Minister said earlier today, the Health requirement far outstrips the moneys that are available. That talks to the need for proper prioritisation and the need to make sure that that happens.”
“We spent a lot of time at Hillsborough Castle, as we sat around the various tables, trying to make sure that the British Government realised that there was a definition of need and that improvements were required to the level of need that we have. We have talked about that, and we have seen the level of need increase to 124%; indeed, it may and probably will have to be higher than that. That is a needs-based approach. If we took the needs-based approach, how did we get into a situation where the Health Department has been cut? We have heard Alliance and everybody else say, "Oh no, it hasn't really been cut". Yes, it has. It has been cut by 2·3%, which is £187 million. We cannot deliver what we need to do with the funds that we have. We are in a catastrophic situation.”
“<BR /> <BR />A further concern is that I have asked the First Minister and the deputy First Minister a direct question about a Programme for Government, which is essential for what we need to do and what we are trying to do. I asked why we could not bring a Programme for Government forward. The reason that I was given was that we are in purdah and that arrangements were being made that it should not happen. We are being asked to consider a Budget that is not based on need. If it were based on need, the health budget would not be in the position in which it is and we would not be as short of funding as we are. We are grateful for the additional £122 million, but we are still in a catastrophic situation. That point has been underlined by our health trusts and health professionals. <BR /> <BR />We should look objectively at the need.”