SDLP Calls For Public Service Rescue Package

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been urged to deliver a public service rescue package linked to the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland.

SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood MP made the call during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons where he called on the UK Government to send a message to the DUP that it is now time to get back to work.

Colum Eastwood MP said: "There are 500,000 people in Northern Ireland waiting for a hospital appointment right now. That means that we all know friends, family and colleagues living in pain or with worry that their condition is getting worse every day without treatment. If it happened anywhere else on these islands, it would be treated as a national emergency because it represents the collapse of basic public services.

"Instead of getting to work to do something about it, Stormont is on an enforced go-slow by the DUP. The choice they’re making every day is to let people get sicker rather than working with the rest of us to fix our health service. The same goes for our schools, youth services, our transport infrastructure, street lights and every other public service. It is time to get back to work.

"Fixing the services we rely on won’t be easy. It will require a public service rescue fund to frontload resource into health service transformation, ending wage stagnation and injustice and getting the basics back on track. It will also require political leaders to work together like never before. The message from people across the North was clear last week – change can’t wait. It’s time the DUP and the British Government heard it loud and clear."