Gregory calls Sammy and Peter 'defeatist'

In yesterday's Assembly debate on the Northern Ireland Budget the Ulster Unionist Party attempted to bring some realism to a debate which saw Gregory Campbell and Simon Hamilton claim that it is better to oppose reductions in the block grant, reductions that all political parties have admitted are inevitable and necessary due to the size of the national debt, rather than prepare for those reductions by collectively re-examining our priorities.

However, Gregory and Simon ended up contradicting their own Finance Minister and the First Minister, as they put forward their confused and childish arguments:

Gregory Campbell said in Yesterday's debate:

"I shall now deal briefly with the amendment, which will be moved on behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party by Mr McNarry or Mr Beggs:

"the Northern Ireland block grant could be reduced by up to 10 per cent … and calls on the Assembly to set up an ad-hoc Budgetary Review Committee to secure cross-party support on plans to manage such potential reductions in public expenditure."

Our problem is that the amendment appears to adopt a defeatist attitude. It almost accepts that cuts will happen.

However, Sammy Wilson said on the 12^th October 2009:

"..we know that after the next Westminster election - whatever the outcome - our budget could be reduced by up to 10 per cent. We must prepare for that by looking at what spending changes can be made, and what needs to be done to implement them".

Gregory Campbell went on to say:

"In fact, the amendment draws attention to the fact that one party that may well form the Government after May 2010 will make those cuts and, therefore, we will just have to live with them.

"The DUP motion does not accept that defeatist attitude. If we are faced with cuts of that magnitude, there will be serious difficulties for front line services. Therefore, the DUP does not accept the premise that cuts are inevitable and that we will then have to try to manage them and decide which Departments have to shoulder the burden. Rather than rationalising cuts, we want to fight the problem at its source".

However, Peter Robinson said on October 7^th 2009 said:

"As we move forward it is clear that cuts in Public Spending will not be a choice but will be an economic inevitability - though I am not convinced that all my Ministerial Colleagues have yet faced up to that reality. You can be absolutely sure that the UK Government will - after the election - take the thorny decisions and unless the Executive is also prepared to make such choices Northern Ireland will fall behind in terms of service delivery to the public. This is not something I am prepared to countenance".

It is clear that it is not only some of Peter's Executive colleagues who have not got the message that cuts are inevitable and necessary, but supposedly senior figures in his own Party are struggling to grasp this simple concept.

This is another example of the DUP being in internal conflict. The devolution of Policing and Justice started the unraveling of the Party; but once separation begins it is very hard to stop.