The Ulster Unionist Party has brought the first Official Opposition debate to the floor of the Northern Ireland Assembly since 1972.  The debate called for the Economy Minister to commission a manufacturing strategy for Northern Ireland to help the hard hit industry. 

During the debate Ulster Unionist Vice Chair of the Economy Committee, Steve Aiken MLA, made his maiden speech.

Steve Aiken MLA said:

“We wanted to use the opportunity of our first Official Opposition debate to give a platform to the call from many within society for a Northern Ireland manufacturing strategy.  Manufacturing witnessed devastating levels of job losses during the last mandate and we want to set down a marker for the new Executive that a failure to act on a strategy to rebuild the sector would be totally unforgiveable.

 “I want to offer constructive support and scrutiny to help build our manufacturing sector.   This needs to be done in partnership and we need to listen to all our business stakeholders and act on that advice.

“We need to grow the manufacturing sector to 20% by 2026.  An essential step towards this would be to begin future-proofing the manufacturing industry by addressing the skills shortage with investment in Higher and Further Education.  The Executive must have a drive to cut business costs that cripple the sector, such as delivering lower energy costs that match those in the Republic of Ireland.       

“The Executive needs to radically change its mind-set, to prove that manufacturing is not in a sunset period.  We want to see the Minister creating a truly inclusive Northern Ireland Strategic Manufacturing Board bringing together, industry, politicians, Unions and our Universities.  We need to rebuild manufacturing industry in Northern Ireland and a bespoke manufacturing strategy is the way to achieve this.”