Sinn Féin pledges to introduce £230 payment to tackle cost of living crisis

Mary Lou McDonald says SF is prepared to re-establish the Northern Executive as party launches its Northern Ireland Assembly election manifesto

John Finucane MP, Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O'Neill, SF president Mary Lou McDonald, and Conor Murphy launching the party's manifesto at the MAC, Belfast, this afternoon. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA

Sinn Féin has called for people in the North to be given a £230 (€273) payment to help with the cost of living crisis.

The party made the call as it launched its manifesto for next week's Northern Ireland Assembly elections, with Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald saying that the vote is "a real opportunity to step forward towards a better future".

Ms McDonald said that Sinn Féin is prepared to re-establish the Northern Executive alongside other parties.

"On day one after the election, Sinn Féin will be ready to get back into the Executive and Assembly and deliver for people," she said, echoing the contents of the manifesto, which puts the cost of the payment at £117m, along with £6m for freezing public transport fees. 

The Sinn Féin document says there "can be no delays and no prevaricating" in reforming the Executive to allow for a £1bn investment in the NHS. It states: 

A new Executive needs to be formed immediately to deliver the investment in health and to implement the measures needed to tackle the rising costs of living. 

According to the polls, Sinn Féin is on course to become the largest party in the Assembly for the first time, but would have to work with the DUP to reestablish an executive. The resignation of DUP First Minister Paul Givan in February, in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol, effectively collapsed the Executive. 

On Saturday, DUP leader  Jeffery Donaldson made clear that his party views the existence of the protocol as integral.

"One of the main issues on the doors is the rising cost of living, yet the protocol blocks the Government extending tax breaks to Northern Ireland which are available in England, Scotland, and Wales. Our road haulage sector testify that the protocol is driving up the cost of bringing goods from GB to NI by 27%.

"The shadow of the protocol is impacting every walk of life," he told an event in Derry. 

Mr Donaldson made the case for tactical voting across Unionist parties and warned that failure to do so would "send a message to Dublin and Brussels, that it is business as usual with the protocol".

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood also made the case for tactical voting, but to win his party seats in previous DUP strongholds. 

He said: "In many of the constituencies where we're fighting to gain a seat, it's with the DUP for the fifth seat, so I think if people in most of those constituencies want to beat the DUP or send them a message, it's to vote for the SDLP and even lend us your vote in certain place. 

"That will make the biggest impact on what the Executive looks like not just who fills that job."