Colum Eastwood calls for emergency move on energy bills

Colum Eastwood warned that continued disfunction at Stormont would lead to cold homes and hungry children

The leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) has called for emergency legislation to release funds for those struggling with energy bills.

Colum Eastwood has contacted the other parties seeking support for the move.

It would give ministers the power to implement a new energy grant scheme in the absence of a Stormont executive.

The Foyle MP has also written to both the British and Irish governments outlining the route of the new legislation through the assembly.

But the move hinges on the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) supporting the election of a Speaker, which it has so far refused to do as part of its protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol.

"Jeffrey Donaldson can choose to continue with the politics of protest and boycott, focussed on challenges over which we have no direct control, but we must all be clear that the price of that protest is cold homes, hungry children and parents at their wits' end," the SDLP leader said.

Mr Eastwood plans to contact Stormont's bills clerks this week to advance his plan.

• What is the Northern Ireland Protocol?

• NI Assembly Speaker blocked by DUP for second time

• Financial support for vulnerable NI households

The Northern Ireland Protocol is a post-Brexit trading arrangement which was designed to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland when the UK left the European Union.

However, it led to new goods checks at Northern Ireland sea ports on some products from Great Britain, effectively creating a new trade border in the Irish Sea.

Unionist parties, including the DUP, argue that this has led to extra costs and unnecessary delays, as well as undermining the union between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

The DUP pulled its first minister out of Stormont's power-sharing government in February in protest over the protocol, which meant its ruling executive could no longer function properly.

In last month's election, the DUP was returned as the second biggest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, but since then it has twice refused to vote in favour of electing a new Speaker.

Under assembly rules, no business can take place after an election until a new Speaker is elected, but their election requires support from both unionists and nationalists.

• SSE Airtricity customers face 42.7% gas price hike

• NI Assembly Speaker blocked by DUP for second time

There are concerns that without a functioning government in Northern Ireland, the cost-of-living crisis cannot be addressed by local politicians.

In late May, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced every household in the UK would get an energy bill discount of £400 this October as part of a package of new measures to tackle soaring prices.

However, Stormont's Finance Minister Conor Murphy said there was "no guarantee" that households in Northern Ireland would directly receive the discount in the autumn due to the lack of a functioning executive.