THE DUP and Sinn Féin have mounted attacks on their opponents ahead of tomorrow’s vote on the Northern Ireland budget.
The Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP have held internal meetings at senior level over recent days as they debate whether they should accept or reject the budget, which proposes £4 billion (€4.64 billion) in spending cuts over the next four years.
UUP leader Tom Elliott will tomorrow announce whether his Assembly members will accept, reject or abstain on the budget of DUP Minister for Finance Sammy Wilson. Senior UUP members are also considering whether the UUP should leave the Northern Executive and act as the main Assembly opposition.
An SDLP spokesman said the party was still discussing what approach to take during the budget debate and vote tomorrow.
DUP First Minister Peter Robinson and Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness can carry the budget without UUP or SDLP support tomorrow, based on cross-community support from DUP and Sinn Féin members.
Mr Elliott and SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie have major strategic decisions to take on the budget, coming less than two months before the May Assembly elections.
They must consider whether acceptance, rejection or abstention would enhance their electoral prospects. They will also be conscious that if they fail to support the budget, Ms Ritchie and the two UUP Ministers in the Northern Executive – Minister for Health Michael McGimpsey and Minister for Education and Learning Danny Kennedy – would be likely to be in breach of the Assembly ministerial code of conduct.
If they oppose the budget, they could face censure from the First and Deputy First Ministers.
As Mr Elliott and Ms Ritchie considered their next move last night, the DUP and Sinn Féin maintained the pressure on them to collectively endorse the budget.
DUP Assembly member Jonathan Bell said the “cynical opportunists now have the upper hand in the UUP, trying to con people with a pre-election stunt”.
Sinn Féin economy spokesman Mitchel McLaughlin said the SDLP was in danger of making itself irrelevant through its “persistent negativity”.
The party, he said, should “begin to make constructive contributions to Executive attempts at minimising the effects of the Tory cuts on frontline services and the vulnerable in our society”.
