Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

It's looking increasingly likely that the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are edging back towards a deal. If so, that makes the local 13 MPs somewhat less fantastic, as their votes will hold far less clout.

So should we brace ourselves for the Tory cuts the other parties predicted during the election campaign? Or will the Liberal Democrats have a moderating impact?

And do I detect a sense of "We told you so" from the following statement from Martin McGuinness which claims that some local MPs had exaggerated their potential influence.

The Deputy First Minister says that "over the course of the past 24 hours Sinn FΓ©in have been in contact with party leaders here and with both the British Labour party and the Tories. It is clear that whatever negotiations are going on at Westminster they do not involve any of the parties from here. Despite some local MPs clearly trying to exaggerate their influence. What we need to build is our own strategy to defeat the proposed cuts. This is too serious an issue to leave to the numbers game in Westminster or to parties who have already committed their votes before the election even happened."

He goes on to argue that the Executive should discuss the matter urgently and "needs to be ready and waiting for the next British government. We need to be ready and united to stand up to a Tory/Lib Dem coalition who will want to press through cuts to frontline services."

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |
• - What's this?