Timothy Gaston
North Antrim · Traditional Unionist Voice · Northern Ireland
“I begin my remarks by putting on record, once again, my thanks to the victims and survivors who have campaigned for many years to bring us to this point today, where the Bill will pass its Final Stage.”
“There is an onus on the Assembly in the next mandate to ensure that the work continues, with a second phase of redress that will consider individualised acknowledgement of the harm and trauma that the birth mothers and adult adoptees experienced.”
“I trust that those who have worked diligently in the background on the terms of reference will reflect the requests of the Committee and those who have given evidence to ensure that they are victim-centred and that truth and justice will be pursued.”
“Throughout the process, the Committee has taken steps to ensure that victims and survivors of religious institutions, state homes and private homes see themselves reflected in the Bill.”
“At a recent meeting of the Committee for the Executive Office, the Migrants' Rights Network complained that, in the second half of 2025, the UK Government increased raids focused on illegal working. When raids increased by 76%, arrests increased by 169%.”
“The revelations that have come to light since dirty Donaldson's conviction and the red flags that his colleagues ignored raise profound and troubling questions for the DUP, but for Sinn Féin generally and Deirdre Hargey in particular to come to the Chamber and pontificate about safeguarding is utter hypocrisy.”
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“<BR /> <BR />Those are not the only points about the motion that I find ironic, which brings me to my final reason. Those who will trip through the Lobbies in support of the motion in a few moments' time are also the most passionate advocates of the protocol, an arrangement that means that, when it comes to 300 areas of law — note that I said "300 areas of law" and not "300 laws" — no one in Northern Ireland, regardless of their age, has any vote on them. That is a democratic obscenity, yet those who champion votes for 16-year-olds loudest are silent when it comes to being ruled by people whom no one in Northern Ireland voted for. <BR /> <BR />We are just over a month away from the largest disenfranchisement operation of modern times and the facilitating of the first majoritarian vote in Stormont in over 50 years.”
“<BR /> <BR />Secondly, it would be remiss of me not to note the irony of the motion's origin. Sinn Féin is in no position to lecture anyone on democracy. On its Benches, albeit from time to time, sits the Old Bailey bomber, Gerry Kelly. Let us not forget today that that bombing resulted in Frederick Milton dying from a heart attack and 150-plus being injured. Let us ask ourselves why that attack was carried out: because, on the same day, a border poll was held in Northern Ireland, and Mr Kelly knew that he would not like the outcome of that poll. On that same day, a young soldier, 21-year-old John Green, was shot by the IRA while guarding St Joseph's Primary School on the lower Falls. Why was he guarding the school? Because it was being used as a polling station. Yet, Sinn Féin, in the motion, wants to lecture us on democracy.”
“I start by congratulating the new Member on her maiden speech. It is certainly not easy to rise after that, but I will do my best. <BR /> <BR />I oppose the motion for three simple reasons. First, in setting the voting age at 18, the UK is very much in line with international practice. If you look at the situation across the democratic world, you see that the average voting age is 18·03 years. While there are 16-year-olds in the workplace, the vast majority are still in education or vocational training until the age of 18. It is important to remember that, when it comes to issues such as signing a legally binding contract, one cannot do so until one is 18. Let us remember that you need to be 18 to buy alcohol, 18 to buy cigarettes and 18 to buy a knife, but those who tabled the motion want a 16-year-old to be able to vote.”
“I am in no doubt that net zero will be devastating to the agri-food industry in North Antrim, but I recognise the opportunities that it can bring to businesses that are in my constituency, such as Wrightbus. While we are a number of years away from both the roll-out of hydrogen more widely and larger vehicles, the Executive need to step up their efforts now in order to ensure that we have an infrastructure in place to match the future demand. Mid and East Antrim Borough Council had the vision of including Innovation for Change (i4C) in its city deal projects, which will give local businesses the opportunity and platform to trial cleantech products. I trust that the Executive are equally ambitious and will make Ballymena a future hydrogen hub here in Northern Ireland.”
“North Antrim is blessed with many manufacturers who are leaders in their markets. Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting Wrightbus, and I single it out for praise and make known its importance in shaping our future hydrogen economy here in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />Wrightbus now employs directly 2,000 people on its Galgorm site, with another 1,500 employed locally throughout its supply chain. Under the previous ownership of the late Sir William Wright CBE, Wrightbus became a global leader in the development of the next generation of cleantech buses in design and manufacture. Adding in Jo Bamford's expertise in hydrogen leaves Ballymena well positioned to continue to lead the design and development of future hydrogen vehicles on a global scale. <BR /> <BR />Last week, I listened to the debate on the barriers to green energy.”
“Last week, we had the announcement about appointments to Intertrade UK. Can the Minister confirm that no money from his Department is currently going to that body, meaning that it is a de facto window-dressing exercise to spare the blushes of his government partners in the DUP when they sold out on the Union?”
“Does she believe her now, or is she the champion for cases that involve women only when republicans are not at fault?”
“A few years ago, the now self-styled First Minister told BBC Radio Ulster, in reference to the Máiría Cahill case:”
“To bring my remarks on the Budget (No. 2) Bill to a close, I will just say this: once the Bill passes today, those who support it can no longer chime and complain about the Labour Government and what they have done. This is your Budget. You now own it. Any decisions that flow from it are on the heads of those Executive parties that vote the Bill through today. I, for one, will not support it.”
“At least I did that more than other people.”
“I quoted it a lot more than other Members did. You gave them latitude, but you have not given me the same latitude.”
“I am still going on to the Budget (No. 2) Bill.”
“Where is the value for money for the ratepayer? <BR /> <BR />I will vote against the Budget (No. 2) Bill. I ask the other unionists in the Chamber to think about why they will find themselves voting in the same Lobby as Sinn Féin. Why is it that, instead of passing a Budget, you are not all locked in crisis talks with the Government over winter fuel payments? Sinn Féin was prepared to bring this place down over the bedroom tax. Why has it meekly rolled over and accepted the Westminster decision to cut at this time? I will tell you why. Sinn Féin has unionism exactly where it wants it. It has its eye on the bigger goal. We heard at the weekend all this chat about unionist unity and reaching out to other unionist parties, but you need to bear in mind that not having the threat —.”
“With some imaginative counting, the unaudited accounts that the council submitted show that break-even was reached after the reserves were bolstered and a new members' fund had been set up to keep councillors sweet. <BR /> <BR />I have further concerns about directors being recruited through long-term agency contracts rather than being directly employed, which would make savings for the ratepayer. We have the bizarre position where two directors are engaged through an agency to which ratepayers are paying a daily finder's fee for the privilege. That is insulting. No local authority should be paying in the region of £1,060 and £960 plus expenses per day to any agency worker. Having directors earn more than the chief executive is not a sustainable model for running any business, never mind a council. Where is the oversight from Stormont?”
“After spending upwards of half a million on external consultants, we were told that the deficit was of the order of £7·2 million and that an additional £1·4 million was required from the 2024-25 rates to complete all the recommendations. <BR /> <BR />As time passed, my concerns grew. By using the narrative of a £7·2 million deficit in February 2024, the majority of councillors inflicted the worst rates rise in the council's history on householders and businesses, with a rise of 9·78% and 11·8% respectively. In England, such a rise would have incurred a local referendum, whereas in Northern Ireland that increase was agreed after 22 councillors voted in favour of it and 14 voted against it, without any oversight or input from Stormont. Furthermore, it now transpires that the £7·2 million deficit turned into a healthy £1·4 million surplus.”
“<BR /> <BR />If I may change direction slightly, I will focus a wee bit on local government. When the review of public administration (RPA) finally happened in 2015, we were told that we would see savings. In some cases, three councils merged into one. I argue that, instead of seeing savings, Stormont created bloated organisations without providing any real scrutiny to ensure that our councils provide value for money. Take Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, to which I was first elected in 2014. After the election in May 2023, we were called to a crisis meeting where we were told about the financial turmoil that the council had got itself into and that external expertise was required to sort out the mess.”
“When we strip back the spin, however, the reality is very different. Last week, in response to my question for oral answer, the Finance Minister had to admit that the Executive received £57·2 million of Barnett consequentials for 2024-25, following the announcement in the spring Budget of the expansion of the 30 free hours of childcare scheme in England. However, Stormont's 2024-25 Budget provides just £25 million to support the development of a childcare strategy. That means that more than £32 million of our share of money that should have gone to childcare has not been committed to that issue. Far from connecting with the priorities of ordinary people when it comes to childcare, Stormont is selling the people short to the tune of £32 million, which it is spending on other things. That is not an achievement; it certainly is a disgrace.”
“I will finish the point that I was making before I move on to my next point about the Budget (No. 2) Bill. <BR /> <BR />Minister Lyons may be pleased with the crumbs from Tourism Ireland, but I want to see Northern Ireland being promoted in its own right. In 2016, a former head of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board made the argument that we needed our own tourism strategy and that we were getting a raw deal from Tourism Ireland for the money that we invest. Almost a decade on, nothing has changed and nothing has been done to change that sad fact. <BR /> <BR />When it comes to the achievements of the Executive on financial issues, the reality is very different. This morning, on the radio, the DUP leader and the Education Minister claimed as a great victory the funding package for childcare in the Budget (No. 2) Bill.”
“2) Bill in an organisation like Safefood would have a long-term benefit for Northern Ireland, because not one of them is employed on this side of the border. <BR /> <BR />Minister Lyons even made the bizarre claim that, if we lost the North/South bodies, we would have no one to promote Northern Ireland as a tourism destination. The truth is that, shamefully, no one promotes Northern Ireland as a tourist destination on the international stage. Tourism Ireland promotes the island as a single destination, and it does not make a very good job of promoting the unique tourism experiences of places such as my constituency, which boasts both of Northern Ireland's World Heritage Sites alongside world-class hotels and golf courses. Minister Lyons may be pleased with the crumbs —.”
“I was mentioning the Budget (No. 2) Bill, one line of which says that this place spends £1·6 million annually to maintain prison buildings at the Maze, which, it seems obvious to me, will become a shrine to terror. In the Budget (No. 2) Bill, the Assembly will spend between £35 million and £45 million a year on useless North/South bodies and the North/South Ministerial Council, which operates as normal while border posts are built at Larne, as the noose of the protocol tightens day by day. <BR /> <BR />When I highlighted those proposed savings, Minister Lyons dismissed them with a smirk, claiming that the redundancies involved would cost us money. Laying off staff who are employed by virtue of money from the Budget (No.”
“<BR /> <BR />Two weeks ago, the Communities Minister challenged MLAs about what we would do differently in order to save the winter fuel payment. I laid out some changes that I would make to how we spend money. This place is prepared to spend £9 million annually for an Irish language Act that will only increase division.”
“Generously funded as Northern Ireland undoubtedly is, especially when one considers the alternative of an all Ireland in which one would have to pay to visit a GP, pay for a stay in hospital and even pay to get the fire brigade out, we could and should be funded even more generously. It is an indictment of the establishment parties in the Chamber that, in all the crisis talks that they have had with the Government over the years about money, they have failed to make that simple and basic argument. You cannot come here week after week to debate pointless motions complaining about the lack of money for this or that when you have not made the argument for a sustainable, long-term funding solution from which another devolved region already benefits.”
“Professor Holtham found that, in order for people in Wales to enjoy the same level of public services as people in England, the Government, because of the higher need in Wales, needed to spend £115 per head for every £100 spent in England. In Scotland, the figure was £105 per head, and, in Northern Ireland, it was £121 per head. Since 2012, Westminster has accepted that block grant funding to Wales should not fall below the Holtham definition of need. Why have the Executive parties not been pushing for the same principle to apply to Northern Ireland's funding? <BR /> <BR />I have quoted those figures before, but I remind the House that the funding of Northern Ireland was £3 per head below the UK definition of need in 2022-23 and 2023-24.”
“— like the rest of the Members who have spoken. <BR /> <BR />That was a fundamental betrayal of the mandate secured by the DUP at the most recent Assembly and council elections. We also had the nonsense peddled that a financial package had been secured. Let me be clear: I do not believe for one moment that unionists should have betrayed their word to those who trusted them, regardless of how many pieces of silver were on offer. Nor should the public be blind to the reality that, generous as the block grant from Westminster is, it could and should be even more generous. <BR /> <BR />On two occasions already in the House, I have highlighted the fact that, in 2007, the Welsh Government appointed Professor Gerry Holtham to examine funding from Westminster to the devolved regions.”
“If you give me time to expand, I will mention the Budget (No. 2) Bill —”
“— Command Paper delivered regarding the protocol.”
“<BR /> <BR />That having been said, there is a case to be made that Northern Ireland should be funded even more generously. Shamefully, unionists returned to this place having sold a false bill of goods to the people in terms of what the 'Safeguarding the Union' —”
“I have not been here long, but I have been here long enough to know that one of the things that Members excel at in the House is complaining about the lack of money that comes from Westminster. The reality is that, without tax-raising powers, all that we can do is divide up the cake that we have been given. Whatever way in which you seek to divide it, the truth remains that £28,772,794,000 is a pretty big cake. That figure is much more generous than what we would have if we were part of the Irish Republic that all those to my left in the Chamber fantasise over. We need to remind ourselves that people in the Republic do not have a health service free at the point of need. People can be charged for calling out the fire service, and they do not have a personal allowance. Thankfully, we do. That is because we are part of the United Kingdom.”
“The first thing that I observe about the Bill is clause 1(2):”
“The trust staff were helpful, but their hands were tied due to a lack of facilities and psychiatrists at the Iveagh Centre and generally in Northern Ireland when it comes children with that child's needs. No family should have to go through the trauma of their child being sectioned in their home for eight days. Members throughout the House can, I am sure, cite examples from their constituencies. <BR /> <BR />Simply throwing money at the problem without a plan to fix it will not cut it. There is no point in grandstanding to demand additional money without having first made a long-term financial case to Westminster along the lines of that which Professor Holtham made about Wales.”
“that the motion calls for. Professor Holtham even provided them with an off-the-shelf model, but the truth was that the rush to get back here was more important than the waiting lists. <BR /> <BR />I will raise an area that needs urgent attention. In July, I was contacted by a parent in my constituency whose young child with severe additional needs had been sectioned earlier that day, due to safety concerns for the child and for those providing care. No spaces were available at the Iveagh Centre. The initial response from the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust was that that was likely to be the case for several weeks. Social workers were deployed to the family home, where they had to provide round-the-clock care for eight days until a space became available.”
“<BR /> <BR />There is, however, a rational case for arguing that, in the long term, Northern Ireland has been underfunded. As I told the House last week, in 2007, the Welsh Government appointed Professor Gerry Holtham to review the impact of the Barnett squeeze and to develop a metric for measuring what Wales needed in order to justify intervention to make sure that the squeeze did not take Wales below the level of service expected in the rest of the UK. Professor Holtham found that, because of higher need, Wales needed to spend £115 per head for every £100 spent in England. The equivalent figure for Scotland was £105 per head. In Northern Ireland, it was £121 per head. Why did the Executive parties not push for that before returning as protocol implementers? That was the time to agree the:”
“Does launching a further consultation aimed at stripping away general surgery from Causeway Hospital sound like delivery? <BR /> <BR />Why should we believe that the Executive, made up of the same parties, will do any better than the previous Executive or the ones before them? We have endless millions for North/South bodies and an Irish language Act. Just yesterday, many in the House demanded another £400 million from Westminster, not to fix waiting lists but to build a GAA stadium. What solution does the motion propose? A demand for yet more money from London. If you are going to constantly argue that we are a special case and that we need additional money, please build a rational long-term case for doing so. Otherwise, you make Northern Ireland look like the Oliver Twist of the UK, always just asking for more.”
“I cannot but begin by noting the irony of the motion. This motion has been proposed by one of the lead parties in the Executive, which tried just last week to sell us a Programme for Government as a great plan for the future of Northern Ireland. What do we find on waiting lists when we look at the glossy document? I will say one thing for it: the document is great at identifying the problem. On page 27, a wonderful graph shows us that, year-on-year, the waiting times for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment have increased under successive Health Ministers. Does that sound like delivery? I look at North Antrim, where we have the failure to reopen the Dalriada out-of-hours centre in Ballymena after COVID, meaning that urgent cases have to go to Antrim Area Hospital. Does that sound like delivery?”
“No business could operate in that fashion. Why is it thought to be acceptable when it comes to the sacred cows of the North/South bodies? What are you doing to ensure that that issue does not arise again?”
“Thank you very much, Minister. Later today, the Assembly will debate pressures on the health service, yet, in your statement to the House, you said that, in May 2024, the Council approved the North/South language body business plans and budgets for 2022, 2023 and 2024 and that the audited accounts for 2022, which was two years ago, are near completion.”
“— and not with Brexit, which has been denied to the people of Northern Ireland.”
“— the problems are associated with the Northern Ireland protocol —”
“Those in the Chamber who blame Brexit are Brexit deniers. To be clear —”
“<BR /> <BR />Implicit in that upholding of the border is the upholding of the integrity of the new legal regime in Northern Ireland and across the island of Ireland as the result of our new colonial status arising from our subjection to legislation made by a foreign Parliament at which we have no representation. That relates to not just one law or 300 laws but 300 areas of law. October 1 is the day when reality will finally catch up with the current DUP leadership's 'Safeguarding the Union' fantasy. That is when we will discover, as the TUV warned all along, that the emperor had no clothes, and we will see more starkly than ever before that unionists now need to find a new credible, honest, competent, border-literate leadership to deal with the protocol and uphold the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”
“Gavin Robinson told us, "The green lane is gone", and, on 8 April, he told William Crawley that its removal would begin in the autumn. However, what we see is not the removal of the green lane border but the next stage of its arrival in 14 days' time. <BR /> <BR />As the final grace periods come to an end, when it comes to the border, nothing from the Windsor framework has changed in any shape or form. It is just the Windsor framework, which, through EU regulations 2023/1231 and 2023/1128, offers the movement of some goods within the UK, GB to NI, on the basis of simplified customs and international SPS border requirements, but does not remove them. That reserves to the EU the right to default to 100% red lane Official Controls Regulation (OCR) if it is not happy.”
“Secondly, the Government seem to think that they can rely on hauliers to extract detailed information from traders moving parcels and negotiating the customs green lane border, which is extraordinarily time-consuming and expensive. The hauliers' point is that if the Government wish to extract large amounts of information from traders, it is the responsibility of the Government to get that information. It is concerning that some traders have decided to stop trading with Northern Ireland because the data requirements are too burdensome. <BR /> <BR />At the end of January, the DUP leadership told the people of Northern Ireland that it had secured a significant advance on the Windsor framework, which the party had rejected as unacceptable.”
“<BR /> <BR />In the context of the limited information that has been made available to them, hauliers are particularly disturbed on two levels. The first of those is the failure of the Government and the Trader Support Service to understand that the interaction between the red and green lanes is generating growing complexity, which is entrenching rather than qualifying or removing the sense in which the border is an obstacle. In the real world, lorryloads are mixed and potentially subject to multiple procedures, depending on whether they are red lane SPS, red lane customs, green lane SPS or green lane customs or parcels. As one haulier commented:”
“Secondly, we are confronted by the imminent interaction of the complexity of the new green lane customs border with the existing red and green lane SPS border and red lane customs border arrangements. <BR /> <BR />The lives of hauliers are being made impossible by the fact that, notwithstanding the imminent arrival of the Irish Sea parcels border and green lane customs border, on many points of process detail, they remain in the dark. Many months ago, they sat down with the relevant officials and pointed out that, the previous time they sought to introduce a customs border, on 1 January 2021, the hauliers were informed in detail about the new process only the day before. Yet, here we are, just two weeks away, and while they have some information, the hauliers remain in the dark on many key questions of process detail.”
“While I support the motion, I am concerned by the way in which it talks around the presenting issue without actually naming it. While hauliers remain concerned about the operation of the Irish Sea border in the round, the issue that they particularly highlight is their concern about the imminent arrival of the Irish Sea parcels border and Irish Sea green lane customs border on 1 October. <BR /> <BR />In engaging with the arrival of those new aspects of the border, it is imperative to understand how they are new. First, we have been living in a grace period since the arrival of the protocol, but in 14 days' time, that grace period ends, and the border comes into effect for the first time for business-to-business parcel movements.”
“I have been involved in the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council projects since the work on the Belfast region city deal started eight years ago. If the Causeway Coast and Glens growth deal and the Mid South West region growth deal do not proceed in the current time frames, or, indeed, do not proceed at all, who will reimburse the ratepayers who have already committed money to bringing projects to their current stage? Who will meet the additional costs that may be incurred in future from the pause that we currently have on the two growth deals?”
“It certainly is. It is where I am going with my question. Last year, Mid and East Antrim Borough Council set a business rate with a staggering increase of 11·86%. Is the move that I refer to in the Minister's Department a safeguard being brought in by the Department of Finance to protect businesses from that happening in the future?”
“Thank you. Twenty-five million pounds is some way short of the £57·2 million that, the Minister told us, we received, which means that £32 million is being spent elsewhere. We see much chest beating about what we are doing for childcare: why are parents being short-changed, and why is that money being diverted elsewhere?”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. We have heard much talk about the problem with the computer system. Why did that problem not arise when we broke parity on the bedroom tax?”
“Last week, in evidence at the Executive Office Committee, the Equality Commission suggested that transgender rights are a gap in equality legislation. In Scotland, there was a ridiculous situation where a rapist was held in a female prison before, rightly, being moved. Is there anything in the strategy to defend women-only rights and women-only spaces and to oppose the efforts of a biological man who thinks he is a woman to gain access to female-only spaces?”