Closing summary
As mentioned earlier, tonight’s BBC general election TV debate featuring politicians from Northern Ireland’s five main parties has finished. There were no closing remarks from the politicians, instead Tara Mills closed the debate by thanking all those involved, including the audience for their questions and remarks.
The main topics of the night’s debate were health, trust in politics, the union and Israel-Gaza. Here are some of the key lines from each of the five who were behind the podiums this evening:
DUP leader, Gavin Robinson, denied there would be a cut of £184m to the health budget and said the DUP had highlighted that “Northern Ireland doesn’t get sufficient funding to provide public service that we need”.
“We would far rather government had not come down at all and people recognise this place works properly and positively on the basis of consensus,” said Robinson. He added that the DUP wants to “build on the good progress we have made” which “would not have been made without our stance”.
Alliance party leader, Naomi Long, clashed with Robinson, stating that there’s no doubt that the collapse of the Assembly has “damaged our public services … and public confidence”. Long said that “it has damaged public confidence, because people now know our Stormont as it stands today is no more stable than the day before it collapsed the last time”.
.@naomi_long “People are not waking up in the middle of the night in a sweat worried about the border. But they are worried if they can pay their bills, if they can get their children into school or if they are able to get an appointment with their doctor”#BBCNIDebate #GE24
— Alliance Party (@allianceparty) June 27, 2024
Long said her party “want to be part of the conversation about constitutional change”. She added: “We are open to those conversations but what we are not going to do is vote along ideologically-driven lines”.
Robbie Butler, deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist party (UUP), said health was the “number one topic on the doorstep”. He said abstentionism in Stormont had affected health services, stating that the UUP “didn’t take their players off the pitch”.
“When some parties don’t get their way they take their players off the pitch…
— Ulster Unionist Party (@uuponline) June 27, 2024
“The Ulster Unionist Party will not make people suffer for political folly.”
- @RobbieButlerMLA #BBCNIDebate #GE24
Butler also said that the “state of the mental health of the nation is in the pits because of the politics”. He said mental health services are a main focus for the UUP in Westminster but says “consistent government” in Stormont is required.
SDLP leader, Colum Eastwood, said “there isn’t enough money in Stormont” and that the health service is “at the point of collapse”. He said that although the SDLP are happy to work with other parties the decisions are being taken at Westminster. He said Northern Ireland needed to go with “one single voice and ask the British government to properly fund this health service”.
SDLP Leader @columeastwood tells @BBCnireland Leaders' Debate:
— The SDLP (@SDLPlive) June 27, 2024
"We need to go with one single voice and ask the British government to properly fund this health service because it absolutely has collapsed. We need a Marshall Plan, real leadership and real resource."#BBCNIDebate pic.twitter.com/Q6VNNsJXDm
Eastwood also said he was “all for more fiscal powers” but questioned how the public could trust politicians with it if “we can’t even commit to staying in government”. “The first thing politicians around here tonight can do is all commit to not bring Stormont down again, but they won’t do it,” said Eastwood.
Sinn Féin’s Chris Hazzard said that there was an understanding that after 14 years of Tory austerity that public services have been “absolutely devastated”. Hazzard said that one of the most significant developments was that the British government had finally recognised that Stormont has been underfunded.
When asked if he would visit the White House next year if US president Joe Biden is re-elected and the Israel-Gaza conflict is ongoing, Hazzard said his party “will continue to go wherever we need to go to be the voice of the Palestinian people where their voice needs to be heard”.
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Question four: Israel-Gaza conflict
Danny from Armagh asks the fourth question of tonight’s debate.
Question four: “Has taking sides in the conflict in the Middle East become another divisive form of identity politics or do you feel it aligns with national interests?”
Colum Eastwood says he went to Gaza 12 years ago and saw the “devastation wrought upon ordinary people … by the Israeli government”. He says he’s “looking at a genocide unfolding before his very eyes”. He says he wants to be in the next parliament to stop the British government sending arms and components of arms to Israel.
When asked if he will visit the White House next year if US president Joe Biden is re-elected and the Israel-Gaza conflict is ongoing, Sinn Féin’s Chris Hazzard says his party “will continue to go wherever we need to go to be the voice of the Palestinian people where their voice needs to be heard”. Tara Mills says many of Sinn Féin’s supporters were aghast at the party’s St Patrick’s day visit to the White House.
Naomi Long responds by saying that although she didn’t go to the White House celebrations this year, she isn’t going to dismiss the “value of it either”. She says she wants to see international law upheld.
Gavin Robinson, leader of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP), says he thinks it’s wrong that when political leaders talk about Israel-Gaza that they don’t think about the antisemitisim faced by the Jewish community in Northern Ireland and across the world.
Robinson says there should be a ceasefire and a release of hostages. He adds: “What’s going on at the moment is a human tragedy. I can see very clearly there should be a ceasefire and the hostages should to be returned to their families.”
Robbie Butler says it is a humanitarian disaster. He says a dialogue is needed and there has to be a two-state solution.
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