"Wednesday’s recall of the Assembly will achieve nothing more than any of the five other recalls since May 2022. None of them have been designed to generate anything other than headlines.
The power to deliver a fair pay settlement for public sector workers is in the Government’s hands. The failure to implement that pay award is down to a lack of will, on behalf of the Government, not a lack of an Executive. Indeed, the package outlined by the Secretary of State would only be sufficient for a one year pay uplift.
We fully support those workers in their campaign and there is no justification for the funding to have been withheld.
Everyone knows the sitting of the Assembly will achieve nothing because the conditions for the restoration of devolution have not been secured. The parties supporting this recall consistently have chosen grandstanding and stunts rather than serious effort to secure that sort of progress.
That is little different to their choice of "rigorous implementation" in the face of warnings that devolution would be impacted if unionist concerns were not listened to.
After the headlines have faded, the DUP will continue working to achieve genuine cross-community consensus and the platform upon which stable and sustainable devolution can be built.”