Storey says slim down Assembly

NORTH Antrim DUP MLA Mervyn Storey has said that it is high time political parties caught up with the DUP and supported moves to reduce the number of MLAs and the number of government departments.

Speaking of the need to make such a move in the current financial situation during the budget debate at tha Assembly Mervyn Storey said:

"It is all to easy for Assembly Members to try to point the finger every time they don't get one of their pet projects financed.

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"If one considers the journey that we have come on to establish the institutions, we have all come to a place where, although we are not all content with the structure of those institutions, we support devolution.

"Let me throw down a challenge to the other parties. How can they complain of cuts in Health, or Education, or any other budget whenever they cling desperately to 11 or 12 Departments and 108 MLAs? It is simply ludicrous to make a sing and dance about their own particular wish list whenever they cling on to a cluttered system that only multiplies expense.

"The DUP has long championed the idea of smaller government, with fewer departments and fewer MLAs. The time has come for others to catch up."

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