Ulster Unionist Finance Spokesperson, Steve Aiken MLA, has accused Sinn Fein of sheer duplicity after Mairtin O Muilleoir criticised the indicative budget announced in Parliament which he himself was likely to introduce had he remained as Finance Minister.

Steve Aiken said:

“Sinn Fein’s comments are the height of hypocrisy. There is no doubt whatsoever that had the Assembly not collapsed in January, Mairtin O Muilleoir was set to introduce a Budget similar to the one that he is so eager to criticise now.

“In fact, the Parties were categorically told during the recent talks process that these budget lines were the work of civil servants simply continuing trends and reflecting the discussions that had already taken place in the ill-fated 2016 Executive.

“The reactionary and populist comments from Mairtin O Muilleoir are a classic Sinn Fein diversionary tactic. They have been doing it for so long however that their MLAs and previous Ministers could see no contradiction standing with posters saying they’d stop Tory cuts at the very same time they were willingly implementing them in their respective Executive Departments.

“It is a bit like Sinn Fein’s false tears regarding the likely reduction of services in the Daisy Hill Hospital at Newry. Had they not collapsed the Executive their Health Minister would have been in best placed to ensure that Daisy Hill was given the required support to keep the emergency department open.

“It is an absolute disgrace that there remains no Executive in place. There is a crisis in key public services, whether it’s our hospital waiting times or pressures facing school budgets, yet Sinn Fein appear to only want to keep taking the electorate for fools.”