Commons clash on cost of living and Stormont

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson made that point to Boris Johnson during an exchange in the House of Commons yesterday.

The prime minister, however, made a pointed comment to the Lagan Valley MP about the restoration of power-sharing at Stormont in order to tackle “the issues that we all face across the UK”.

Sir Jeffrey, speaking in the Commons, said: “As in the rest of the United Kingdom, hard-pressed households in Northern Ireland are suffering from the cost-of-living crisis. Will the prime minister give me an assurance that any measures that are brought forward by the chancellor in the near future to help hard-pressed households will apply to Northern Ireland, and that the protocol will not be allowed to prevent Northern Ireland citizens receiving the support they need from the government at this time?”

The prime minister replied: “I have already detailed to the House a package of measures to support families across the whole of the UK. I may say that I also think it would be an advantage to the people of Northern Ireland, in tackling the issues that we all face across the UK, if Stormont were to be restored.”

In a statement issued following the exchange, the DUP leader said: “The cost of living is crippling homes across the UK. The DUP has put a package of proposals to the chancellor to help address energy costs. The government, however, has previously stated that it is limited in helping Northern Ireland people with energy costs because of the NI Protocol.

“This is an outrageous situation in the first place but it would be even more outrageous if the government, whilst talking about legislating to deal with the NI Protocol, continue to allow homeowners in Northern Ireland to be excluded from cost-of-living help.”

He continued: “As part of our five-point plan for Northern Ireland, we have been urging the government to introduce a windfall tax on energy firms and make going green affordable to more homes in Northern Ireland. The reality of the protocol has been, however, that tax reliefs, available in England, Scotland and Wales have not been available in Northern Ireland because of the Northern Ireland Protocol. We have been warning about it for two years and the government committed to deal with it in New Decade New Approach Agreement.”