MLA for South Belfast, Leader of the Opposition in the Northern Ireland Assembly
The announcement of the Programme for Government has been delayed after an Executive meeting scheduled for Wednesday morning was postponed, after Alliance Minister Andrew Muir said he hadn’t seen the updated document after ministers were asked for feedback.
Politicians from a range of parties across Northern Ireland have been reacting to and condemning the violence and attacks in Belfast over the past week. The Assembly will meet on Thursday to discuss the violence following a recall petition.
The Executive has agreed to allocate an additional £122 million to the Department of Health and £43.7 million to the Department of Education as part of the June monitoring round, but the SDLP have criticised the timing of the annoucement with the general election on Thursday.
The Windsor Framework allows the Assembly to vote on whether new EU regulations should apply in Northern Ireland, the DUP’s motion has failed to pass through the Assembly.
The DUP has tabled an applicability motion to be debated on a new EU regulation with Donaldson calling it a ‘watershed moment’, whilst the SDLP call it a ‘stunt’.
The SDLP had their first official opposition day today – they tried to get reassurances that there would no further collapses of Stormont – but Sinn Fein and the DUP voted against the motion.
The Social Democratic and Labour Party has suspended Justin McNulty MLA from the party after he left the recall of the Assembly early on Saturday to manage GAA team.
The SDLP’s leader at Stormont, Matthew O’Toole, has submitted a motion to recall the Assembly in a bid to address the ‘crisis’ in Lough Neagh.
The now deleted tweet was sent by the official Alliance Party account on Thursday night.
