SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has called for a “new attitude” from the DUP in 2024 as the party continues its boycott of devolved government.
Mr Eastwood also said that the finances are available to award a significant pay deal for public sector workers, adding that he has “no idea” what the DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s motive is for continuing to stay out of Stormont.
The DUP have declined to engage in power-sharing institutions for over a year and a half in protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements.
The deal was done before Christmas, but the DUP bottled it.
— Colum Eastwood (@columeastwood) January 4, 2024
It’s a new year; we need a new approach from the DUP to sort out the pay and conditions crisis facing our public sector workers. pic.twitter.com/sFK5t1s6of
In December Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris said that negotiations with the party surrounding post-Brexit trade had concluded.
Mr Heaton-Harris also outlined a new £3.3 billion financial package offer for a returning executive to stabilise Northern Ireland’s finances, which he said was a final offer.
Mr Eastwood said that the DUP “bottled it” by declining to return to Stormont when the deal was announced before Christmas.
“Hopefully this new year brings a new attitude from the DUP because the reality on the ground is people don’t see this as a political, kind of theatre issue, they see it as the health waiting lists getting longer, they see it as public sector workers having to go on strike in the cold to get paid properly for the work that they do, people who we went out to clap during Covid and don’t get paid properly,” he told BBC Radio Ulster.
“These are all the responsibility of politicians, politicians are elected to do the job of sorting these problems out and you can’t just walk off the pitch when you don’t get what you want.
“So let’s see.
“I think that the deal was basically done before Christmas and for whatever reason the DUP bottled it but they can’t continue in that way, because I think they’ll be punished by the electorate if they do.”
A number of unions have announced their intention to strike on January 18, in what the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) have called a “generalised day of action”.
The large-scale industrial action will include health workers, midwives, radiographers, teachers and civil servants, who have said they will withdraw their labour for some length of time on the day.
Mr Eastwood said the pay award available in the financial package offered on the conditions of Stormont being restored was “a significant amount of money that can make a significant impact on the public sector workers.”
“I think it should have an impact because, for me anyway, striking workers is a big issue.
“The fact that our ordinary workers out there ,who are doing the hard work that politicians aren’t doing right now, feel that that they have to give up day’s pay just to get paid properly, I think that should tell us politicians something and from my perspective, I’ll be supporting those workers but they need a government back up and running as soon as possible,” he said.
“And frankly, they’re not going to get anywhere with this Tory government.
“We all know what the Tory government think of ordinary workers and so politicians here have a responsibility to step in and make those decisions and the money is now there to do it.”
Mr Eastwood said the DUP “need to be straight with the public” on their reasons for continuing to block devolution.
“I think everybody knows and everybody understands that the deal around the protocol issues was done.
“This was all about orchestrating the opportunity for Jeffrey to bring his party along with him, but surely now the time is up,” he said.
“When you’re the leader of a political party, you have to lead sometimes, this is Jeffrey’s opportunity to show that he’s serious about this because, frankly, a lot of people out there think there’s an ulterior motive.
“I have no idea what the motive behind all of this is.”
He added: “It’s time now.
“This is a new year.
“Let’s see a new attitude.”