Mr Wilson is the Party’s Treasury spokesperson at Westminster. He said, “In the months between December 2022 and September 2023 there were 30 different decisions taken in relation to pay across the public sector in Northern Ireland. The same decision now needs to be implemented for those public sector workers who are campaigning for a fair increase in their pay.
It is not an inability to implement the pay settlement holding it back, but unwillingness by the Secretary of State. He has the money to do it and he has the power to do it. He has accepted there is a need to it but is unnecessarily punishing public sector workers in an obvious attempt to bully the Democratic Unionist Party. Anyone taking such an approach should be ashamed of themselves.
Public sector workers in Northern Ireland deserve to be treated the same as their counterparts across the United Kingdom. This doesn’t require devolution to be in place for the decision to be made and holding it over the head of public sector workers is callous and unfair.
The Secretary of State should stop using workers as a pawn and get on with ensuring people receive a fair increase immediately.”