David Honeyford
Lagan Valley · Alliance Party · Northern Ireland
“Ten years ago, the UK voted to leave the EU, and Northern Ireland was removed from the EU against its will. People will have voted for many reasons, but people were lied to.”
“Many families have spent the past decade worse off, and the loudest supporters of Brexit have punished them, while we have the likes of Farage appearing to be prospering personally. <BR /> <BR />Ten years on, the question is not whether Brexit was right or wrong, because the evidence is clear for everyone to see.”
“<BR /> <BR />The biggest cost of Brexit has been instability, which scares off investment. Since the Brexit referendum, the UK has had seven Prime Ministers, and we have had the Assembly collapse twice. Political uncertainty has become normal. However, when politics becomes unstable, ordinary people pay the price.”
“We need to see more happening, because east-west collaboration is already happening. We need more collaboration to grow our economy further, but talk is cheap. People say such lines on the news but then come to the Chamber and vote against collaboration.”
“Two and a half years into the term of this Executive, much of that remains missing. The same applies to waste water infrastructure and planning reform, with delays continuing to block growth and investment. We should do much more to collaborate North/South, as we do east-west, to improve people's lives.”
“The Executive are failing to provide certainty and follow-up on their commitments. My colleague Andrew Muir having had his green growth strategy blocked for over a year is just one example.”
The complete record
Every one of 868 lines we hold for David Honeyford, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 14 of 18.
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. <BR /> <BR />A green new deal is our future. For the economy to grow faster, we need to develop and scale our indigenous businesses, helping them to develop products for export, but we also need inward investment to create jobs here and bring capital investment to Northern Ireland. That work needs to be focused rather than shotgun in its approach, and I and others on the Economy Committee welcome the Minister's economic vision as he attempts to shape the future. Minister Murphy is not here, but I look forward to working with him on the Economy Committee as we try to drive the economic future. This place works best when we all work together. <BR /> <BR />Alliance puts our economy delivering a green new deal and working towards the green transition high in our prioritisation of issues.”
“I have already given way, and I am running out of time. <BR /> <BR />You cannot have it every way. You chose Brexit, and you got realignment. Businesses will work. We must bring solutions, not problems. We need to provide solutions and help. Business is way ahead of where we are at politically. We need to move forward and help to make life as easy and streamlined as possible. I totally agree with that. There will always be a bit of heartache at the start, but we need to learn from experience and help to make the situation better.”
“It used to come from GB to Northern Ireland. It then changed its model and went to goods from Europe coming to Northern Ireland, and it has now gone back to GB. It is expanding threefold what it is doing. It has signed a contract to supply Marks and Spencer. That is a great news story.”
“If you look at minerals, fuels and oils, you see that those are up 55%. However, there are elements of a decrease: miscellaneous edible preparations are down by 32%. I think that that is the one that you were quoting. You quote one figure, but you do not quote the whole vision of what is happening. <BR /> <BR />We are seeing a change in our economy. Businesses are just getting on with what businesses do, which is supplying their customers, providing jobs and growing themselves. A realignment is happening in businesses. They are taking advantage of different rules. Our focus should be on growing our economy. We have come from a low base. Our focus should be on getting jobs and creating prosperity for people locally. A local haulage company in Lisburn has exploited the situation. The business is looking to expand.”
“The Member talks about concerns and keeps putting forward problems, but they are not highlighted by any of the main official industry bodies. That matter is not being highlighted: if you searched for it, you would not find it. <BR /> <BR />Look at our local economy. It has been said in the Chamber that trade is down. That is absolutely not true. Trade between GB and Northern Ireland has risen overall. Look at the HMRC figures: the absolute black-and-white figures show that trade between GB and Northern Ireland has increased. It is up by 13% from the most recent figures to 2022 to £14·1 billion. You were selling yourself short at £12 billion; it is £14·1 billion. That is an increase of 13% on the year before. When you break those figures down, you see that motor vehicles are up 34%.”
“That would go a long way to removing the barriers for all our road haulage companies. The sooner that that can be agreed, the better for all of us and our economy. <BR /> <BR />With Brexit, Northern Ireland lost three of the four freedoms from being in the EU. I regret that we lost the freedom of movement and the freedom of finance and services. We must do all in our power to take advantage of the freedom of movement of goods within the EU. It gives us dual market access. I have said several times that there is a window of opportunity, and we need to seize it. Having access does not mean that you get greater business; you have to move into that. We need to look at how we expand and grow our economy here.”
“Everything that we do and implement must stand up, in our law and in international law. Every agreement that we have made should be honoured. Alliance has always called for those agreements to be honoured. We are now in 2024, which is eight years after the referendum. We should be looking at achieving solutions for local businesses. We should be working to support and help local businesses, in which I totally include the road haulage companies. <BR /> <BR />Steve talked about the green lane. His tone of voice made me think that it was Darth Vader talking about some doomsday thing. We have to mitigate and help, rather than dramatising it and making it out to be something that it is not. We welcome the UK's efforts to try to deliver an ambitious sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement with the EU.”
“We tabled an amendment to the motion to say that the issue is a direct result of Brexit, but it was not accepted. Alliance never called for trade barriers or asked for Brexit. We campaigned against Brexit. At the time, we highlighted what its consequences would be and said that there would never be a good version of it. Since then, we have worked constantly to help mitigate the consequences of Brexit — the hardest of Brexits — that other parties in the Chamber have helped to deliver. <BR /> <BR />Nevertheless, Members, we need to look at solutions. It is not helpful to highlight problems continually. Forcing everything to be viewed through the lens of a constitutional position may play to a certain gallery, but it is really not helpful to the businesses that need support from us all. This place works best when we all work together.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. Will he outline how he is going to meet the carbon goals in relation to housing as we move into the years ahead?”
“I have just left the launch of the Ulster Rugby Foundation, which I was hosting. Sport brings together the community and people from every background, including people with special needs and those involved in female sport. It is leading the way, while we are falling behind. <BR /> <BR />If the vision and direction in the Chamber is to celebrate not getting something, that is just mind-blowing. For our economy, it is an embarrassment on the world stage. People who were hoping to invest here will have just seen that we are not that interested. We cannot be that interested in trying to convince people to open up here if we cannot even do it for ourselves. I just do not know. <BR /> <BR />To release a statement on a Friday at 7.10 pm is disgraceful. I also put it on the record, however, that the IFA and Ulster GAA —”
“It is neither pretty nor inspiring, and there is absolutely no future in it. It is the past. <BR /> <BR />Here was an opportunity here to break down divisions. I started by saying that it is Good Relations Week. Alliance will always stand up for reconciliation, for a shared society and for moving forward together. Here was an opportunity to bring the community together and to do more than any Together: Building a United Community (T:BUC) programme or any other community programme could ever do to put sport, which is leading the way in all of this, right at its heart and bring people into west Belfast. People from west Belfast accepting Northern Ireland fans into west Belfast would do more for community relations and for breaking down barriers than anything that we could ever legislate for. <BR /> <BR />Sport is leading the way.”
“In 2028, it will be the 30th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. The 25th anniversary was embarrassing enough, when the President of the United States of America came here to try to bring an economic boost to Northern Ireland. At the time, the Assembly was being prevented from doing its job and was not sitting. We did not have the president here for long, only for a morning. <BR /> <BR />When we come to the 30th anniversary, the world's cameras will be on the UK and Ireland, and — guess what? — we will not be there then either. It is absolutely pathetic. I listened to the Member behind me speak. His vision for the future has been mooted in various quarters. It is Groundhog Day. We already know what that vision for the future is: it is the past that we have already lived through.”
“It is the start of Good Relations Week, and this is a massive missed opportunity on which we will look back with regret. I have heard Members here talk about the missed opportunity of the Maze/Long Kesh site, and that stadium should have been built. The same people were saying back then that we cannot have that either.”
“Small businesses become completely dependent on the main contractor, and they are completely trapped by what the main contractor does. That has to end. I want to look at swapping that around and making the interest payment compulsory for the public sector, so that it would automatically be paid with a late payment if the payment was delayed. That would stop it happening again. The invoice would be paid with interest if the delay was the fault of the public sector. <BR /> <BR />The final point is for public sector prompt payment data to be properly recorded and published. If those three points were implemented, you would start to solve the issue, and payments would flow to our small businesses. I trust that everybody will support the motion and the amendment, which, I trust Members will agree, strengthens it.”
“I will just note two other items in my PMB that I did not add to the amendment but want to reference. As I said, public-sector invoices are paid in a legal time frame of 30 calendar days, but, if public-sector invoices are not paid within the legal time frame of 30 calendar days and there is no dispute on the invoice raised, interest payments are automatically applied. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 allows suppliers to add interest. In practice, that never happens. There is concern about losing further orders. Once you are in and you work for one month, then it is two months, and then it is three months, and you have paid your staff, your vehicle costs, your insurance and your suppliers.”
“How many large contractors working on government contracts have done just that and taken the self-employed and the little guy out?”
“When the main contractor went into administration, my constituent carried the can for four months of work that was not paid for. He is not alone in that, and that has been repeated, specifically with Housing Executive contracts, over a period of time. That brings job insecurity to local people who are getting up every morning and working hard, and it brings heartache and worry to small business owners. Ultimately, that guy lost his business. This has got to stop.”
“That condition is legislated for in the UK Procurement Act 2023, but we are not seeing that borne out in practice. The days of the main contactor in government contracts getting paid within 30 days or less but taking 90 days or 120 days to pay the people who supply the work have to end. <BR /> <BR />I will give an example. I spoke with this person this morning to follow up with them on what I was going to say here. Last summer, I dealt with a constituent of mine who owns a small business, working for the Housing Executive. He has six employees. The main contractor that held the Housing Executive contract was getting paid quickly, within the 30-day period, but my constituent was waiting 90 days to be paid. Basically, the main contractor was cash-flowing his business at the expense of the very people who were doing the work.”
“<BR /> <BR />The amendment is to strengthen and widen the motion to reflect what is actually happening and the problem that is out there. This has to include all the public sector. It has to include local government and the arm's-length bodies such as the Education Authority and the Housing Executive, to name just two. There are three areas that I am looking to cover in my PMB that aim to transform the situation. First, it is absolutely vital that all procurement contracts include in the terms and conditions down the supply chain not just the main supplier of the tender but its subcontractors. A company that wins a government contract should be paid quickly, but also the terms of awarding that contract should include in the procurement contract that the main contractor must pay its subcontractors within the same terms and conditions.”
“<BR /> <BR />A self-employed small business owner will grow their own business all by themselves, but it is our role to create the very best conditions to help them, to give them the best opportunities and to give advantage to local companies and the people who work here. The Alliance Party will always prioritise growing our economy, creating new green jobs and creating skills and export opportunities and the benefits that flow from that. However, every business can be stretched with its cash flow. When payment of invoices is delayed or slow to come in, you struggle to pay out your own invoices and accounts to the other side. Again, the public sector should not be adding to that problem. We can help business by providing a positive cash flow position.”
“When money is there, is allocated and is waiting to be paid, and when the job is completed, the public sector should be helping business with cash flow by paying it quickly. <BR /> <BR />It is our role in the Assembly to set the scene, to create the pitch for others to play or to be the gardener who creates the conditions. A gardener does not actually grow the plants, but they remove the weeds, tend the soil and fertilise and water the plants. The better the conditions and the better the conditions that are created, the better the plants grow all by themselves. That analogy is what I want to use for what we should be doing for our economy here and with this issue of prompt payment.”
“Quite often, people have signed indemnities on their houses and everything else to guarantee payments, and all that pressure mounts on people. <BR /> <BR />Most small businesses here do not have accounts departments, so, when you spend time in your working week trying to chase money backwards for work that is completed rather than looking forwards at work that you need to do, it is time wasted and stress caused. When it is coming from the public sector, it is so not necessary. Your headspace should be focused on growing and developing the business, getting new business and increasing jobs in our society, not being distracted by the pressure of cash flow. Simply, the public sector should not be adding to that burden.”
“Before I came to the Assembly, I loved the cut and thrust of small business, the people I met along the way and the thrill of working on a new contract, negotiating on price, whether or not you were winning or losing, and developing new ideas and products. The downside for every small business in Northern Ireland and elsewhere is cash flow and getting paid. I have been there, and I have lived it. Spending Monday morning checking the bank account to see what needs to be paid that week and what salaries have to go out that Friday is the routine of every small business in Northern Ireland. As your business grows, those numbers get greater, and so does the amount for which you have invoiced, the amount that you are waiting to get back and the amount of pressure on you.”
“<BR /> <BR />I want to quickly thank Neil from the Federation of Small Businesses for all the help and support that he has given me through his engagement and through bringing the evidence base to see what we can do in this place to get results. The federation has been brilliant about helping with that. Thank you. <BR /> <BR />Paul said that he has a background as an electrician. I come from a small business background. I am passionate about creating jobs and opportunities for our economy to grow and supporting our business community by creating the conditions and opening up opportunities to enable them to scale up and grow further. I am passionate about the issue that we are debating. <BR /> <BR />I started my first business when I was 20.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I declare an interest that I am a member of the Federation of Small Businesses, which is in the Register of Members' Interests. <BR /> <BR />I do not often stand here and thank DUP Members for tabling a motion, but I thank Paul and Diane today. Paul said about people not engaging with the federation. It is a pity that they did not engage with it before tabling the motion, because we could have tightened it up to make it a little bit stronger. <BR /> <BR />I have been working on a private Member's Bill (PMB) about this issue for small businesses for quite some time. The debate is perfectly timed, because I am meeting the Minister tomorrow, and it is great to have the view of the House. I thank her for being here to listen to those views.”
“Given that we live on an island and that this is an issue right across it, can the Minister give us more information on the engagement that he has had with his counterparts in the South?”
“<BR /> <BR />I will raise the issue of connectivity between Moira village and the train station again — I raise it all the time. We absolutely, fundamentally support extending that park-and-ride. That needs to happen as soon as possible. To try to provide an alternative to using the car, we also need to link the village to the park-and-ride so that people can walk and cycle safely in a lit environment, as well as ensuring that public transport is on offer, available and easy to access. <BR /> <BR />Paul mentioned the bypass. We appreciate that that is not a simple thing to do, but there are things that can be done to help, and we should do all that we can to get to work and provide a safe environment for everybody.”
“I appreciate that the Department came in and overturned that decision, but Sorcha and I, our council team and, to be fair, every elected Member in Lagan Valley have been trying to raise those issues and find solutions. <BR /> <BR />The weight limit in Hillsborough could be implemented simply by the Department. The previous Minister agreed to that, but then this place collapsed, and it did not happen. There are parking problems there as well. We need to look at that. If we are to use Hillsborough for tourism, we need to look at parking and at being able to get in and out of the village in a much simpler fashion. Sorcha and I lobbied the permanent secretary on those matters on behalf of residents when this place was not functioning.”
“We have a problem in Hillsborough, Moira and everywhere else, and here we go yet again. From the start, we are hitting out and building houses that fall outside the development plan. Some of those houses are on a floodplain. We are giving too much economic land over to housing and losing the opportunity to create jobs. Fundamentally, we are not providing any social housing at all in the area, although that was in the proposal. They have now compromised at 10%, which is still way below what is needed in our area. Additionally, there is no school or GP provision, so the wider infrastructure for the new community that we are building is completely lacking. We have a problem in our villages because of those decisions, which were taken 20 years ago. We cannot start that cycle again.”
“Off the top of my head, I would say that approximately 3,000 to 3,500 houses are to be built on that land. A single developer came forward with an application for a new road and to build housing on approximately half of that land. I supported the road application, but, through the planning process, I went up against the DUP MP at that time — in fact, they are still the MP — on the housing application. The reason for that was simply that we were creating another problem.”
“To its credit, however, DFI upgraded that road and sorted out the problem, allowing the residents to live in peace. That should have been done as part of the previous planning process; it should not have to be done retrospectively. <BR /> <BR />When we look at the new local development plan, we have zoned a large amount of land at Blaris, which will, effectively, create a new village in Lagan Valley. A new link road is planned from Sprucefield up to the Moira Road.”
“The Georgian buildings there were erected without foundations, so they vibrate when large lorries travel through the village. I appreciate that there are lorries that need to drop off goods to the businesses there, but the majority of them are using it as a way through. Something has to be done about that, and I know that the Minister has it on his desk. It is certainly something that we have raised previously with the permanent secretary. <BR /> <BR />I have to compliment DFI for its work on a stretch of road in Aghalee, which has a weight limit. Heavy goods vehicle were using that road because it was the easiest way for them to go. Those lorries were from a distribution company just down the road that provides a lot of employment in the area, so there was a balance to be struck.”
“<BR /> <BR />Large amounts of land were zoned for housing without adequate public transport investment or connections, or road infrastructure that was capable of carrying the resulting levels of traffic. Paul just mentioned a bypass for Moira. I will always support that because something needs to be done there, but we are talking about that after the fact; it should have happened first. It is about having the vision to put the infrastructure in first and then allow housing, rather than the other way around. <BR /> <BR />Our village centres are expected to be able to cope. Hillsborough has been destroyed by heavy goods vehicles using the main street as the shortest through route. Those streets were designed to carry a horse and cart.”
“OK. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I welcome this debate and I associate myself with Robbie and Paul's comments about the loss, in devastating circumstances, last year in Moira. There have been others in the area. As has been said, we have a real problem in our villages in Lagan Valley. That is evident in Hillsborough and Moira, but there are traffic issues in other villages. <BR /> <BR />This is not a problem that has happened all of a sudden; it is the outworking of decisions to build and extend housing in those villages 20 and 25 years ago. Importantly, however, it is not the building of houses that is the problem, but doing so without the necessary vision and without upgrading the infrastructure in the area to support those houses.”
“Thanks for your answer. Can you give us a timeline for when the additional funding will be available?”
“That is terrible. <BR /> <BR />Given how important live events are to our tourism industry, will the new tourism action plan that is being developed outline how the Department will strategically promote our own, home-grown events?”
“Thank you Principal Deputy Speaker, and I definitely do not think that you are too old to be going to a live event.”
“Thank you for your answer. Will you set out the work, then, that the economic policy division that is part of your Department has carried out since restoration?”
“Regrettably, in relation to the previous question, we are down to the wire on a timeline for Casement Park. Can the First Minister give us a timeline for the Maze/Long Kesh site? I welcome what she has just said about it, but we need to get on and see the potential for all our community so that we can benefit.”
“This is just to give you an extra minute, so that we can hear you develop your strategy. Can you outline three issues or solutions that the SDLP would like to see, so that we can, at least, have something we can move forward with debating?”
“Technical universities would give opportunities for everybody, not provide just academic learning. It is hard to debate that when the motion simply calls for a strategy. Again, I say that the motion does not offer detail. <BR /> <BR />I agree that there is an issue and that we need to look at our economy and how to grow it, but we should be solution- and delivery-focused and should debate policies and solutions.”
“Recently, I heard the stat that, pre1998, approximately 10% of students at Trinity College were from Northern Ireland; today, it is less than 1%. There is obviously a problem, and it is restricting opportunities for our young people to gain entry to the South's universities. Something needs to happen. <BR /> <BR />We have a motion that is without solutions or ideas and an amendment that tries to remove more opportunities for our young children, which is also disappointing. I will throw in one solution. I have talked in the Chamber many times about reforming our further education colleges and looking at the technical university model that we have seen in other parts of Europe. That would increase skills and opportunities and provide a serious alternative to the research university model that we have.”
“He is attracted home by friends, sport and community, but, centrally, he is starting a new career opportunity in Belfast. That is his reason for coming back. The problem is not that he went away; the going away has been positive. He spent time away from here, and he was able to shape himself and be around different cultures and opinions that shape your outlook. <BR /> <BR />My daughter has just finished her first year at Trinity in Dublin, so I am pure Alliance, with one in England and one in the South. I could talk you through all of the problems in the CAO entry process for students to the Republic's universities and what needs to be changed to increase opportunities for our students. I could do that all day long. The problem is that the motion does not give us the opportunity to do that; it just says, "Go and do this".”
“Sorry, Mr Deputy Speaker. The Opposition should bring forward stuff that we can debate, not give us stuff that we can read ourselves. We know the problem. I want to look at solutions. <BR /> <BR />I can look at my experience. I have two kids, both at university. My son has just finished his degree in Loughborough, England. That has been a brilliant experience for him. It has been a time to grow. Thankfully, he is one of the 30% who will return. He comes home tomorrow. If you ask my wife about that on Wednesday, she might regret that part of it.”
“I said that the motion was negative because it uses the words "negative" and "regrets". There is no solution other than asking somebody else to come up with a strategy. There is nothing here for us to debate. You are the Opposition, Matthew. You declare yourself as the Opposition. Come with things that —.”
“The motion describes the issue, but, fundamentally, I am disappointed that it offers no hope. It is just words of regret and negativity without any words of vision or direction that we can debate. Furthermore, the motion does not mention apprenticeships. Last week, I had a group of students in my office. We threw this to them; that is one of the first things that they read. There are so many apprenticeship opportunities for them in England, particularly, and they are not referenced. A greater number of apprenticeships leads to more careers, so young people are lost to our economy. That has been missed in the motion. I would love to be debating solutions and looking at what we can do to improve our economic outlook. That would be a healthy debate.”
“There is a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation here: to grow our economy, we need an educated workforce; to attract new investment and jobs, we need skills at the other side of that. Also, importantly, our young people and student population need to see the opportunities and career opportunities in which they can thrive. That is key. I do not see going away to study — having opportunities to study in Scotland, England, Wales or the Republic — as the problem. It is more about having a thriving economy here that attracts them to come back to careers and job opportunities that enable them to see their future here.”
“As my party's spokesperson on the economy, I will come at this from the economic perspective. Our economy has been in deficit since the 1930s. Something has to change. We can no longer continue year on year to do the same thing and, effectively, need to be bailed out each year. A region of lack, with its people moving away, is not one that I want to live in, nor do I want future generations to go through that. We should work for better and give the next generation hope for a better future. That includes better job opportunities and wages, and the belief that this place is one where everyone can prosper, have a good job and make the most of the opportunities that are in front of them. That is the key issue.”
“— for, and we need to get on with doing that.”
“It would be remiss of me not to mention the Maze, which is next door, and we should be moving on with developing that site. <BR /> <BR />Selling our assets to the world and using them as an economic driver for tourism is of benefit to all. Growing that 5·6% of GDP and pushing it to 10% is what we should be aiming —”