DUP: Parties still denying impact of protocol on prices

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood is amongst those seeking to heap pressure on the unionist party over the continued power-sharing deadlock.

In a statement issued after the Bank of England hiked interest rates to the highest level in decades, and warned of the likelihood of a prolonged recession, Mr Eastwood said: “The DUP’s refusal to return to Stormont to get support out to families struggling as result of the cost of living crisis has condemned people in the North to an incredibly difficult winter.”

The Foyle MP also called for clarity on a £400 payment designed to help struggling families with soaring energy bills.

Mr Eastwood urged ministers to set out their “strategy” to tackle the crisis.

The DUP, however, said it had put a five-point plan to tackle the cost-of-living crisis to the chancellor and again insisted the problems were being made worse by the protocol. The party also said it is “confident” the £400 payment will be forthcoming.

“The £400 energy support payment is a UK-wide initiative and people in all parts of the United Kingdom must benefit from it,” the DUP MLA David Brooks said in a statement.

“Having been in contact with the Treasury we are confident it will be delivered to households in Northern Ireland, but the government must ensure this happens quickly.

“Westminster has not been slow to take action in relation to other controversial areas. The same urgency should be found when it comes to something that will benefit everyone.”

Mr Brooks said his party had put five proposals to the chancellor in March – a reduction in VAT on energy, a reduction in green energy taxes, a windfall tax on energy companies, a reduction in other energy taxes, and the use of trading standards to monitor fuel costs at the pumps to prevent profiteering.

He added: “We cannot ignore however the impact of the Northern Ireland Protocol on household bills. It is inexcusable that some parties attempt to deny that it now costs more to transport goods into Northern Ireland as a result of the protocol and those costs are being passed on to consumers.

“It is reducing choice and increasing costs, whilst also tying us to the EU VAT regime, something the chancellor has previously cited when Northern Ireland could not be included in other UK-wide measures to promote energy efficiency.”