Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-
“Last month Edwin Poots voted in the executive to accept only £20m for health in the monitoring round. Today, he declares he won’t live within this constraint and that he desperately needs another £60m, at least! Is this the same Edwin Poots who, along with his party, mockingly berated his Ulster Unionist predecessor every time he dared to say more money was needed?
“The dysfunctionalism of the Executive has clearly spread now even to within the DUP, with Edwin Poots planning to bust Simon Hamilton’s budget and constraints. Collective responsibility doesn’t now even operate at party level, never mind cabinet level.
“Of course, Sinn Fein are playing malevolent games with our public finances, but who brought them into government and sustain them there? Now, we all, but particularly the sick, according to the Health minister, are to pay the price of this unworkable system of mis-government. Another fine mess, made in Stormont!”