Speaking as the Ulster Unionist Party voted against the second stage of the Budget Bill, Party leader, Doug Beattie MC MLA, said.

“The Ulster Unionist Party will never back-down from putting our Health Service first.

 “In voting against the second stage of the budget bill today, we are, again, challenging other parties to recognise that this budget is not fit-for-purpose.

“The first act of Ulster Unionist MP’s on Friday will be to call on the new Government to enter immediate discussions to provide an urgent financial uplift to cover the in-year deficit across all Executive Departments.

“We recognise that Northern Ireland has been historically underfunded, something that the previous cohort of local MP's have failed to address.”