Matthew O'Toole
19.1K posts
Matthew O'Toole
@MatthewOToole2
Now: @sdlplive MLA for South Belfast | Leader of the Opposition @niassembly
Former: civil servant & journalist.
Future: A social democratic new Ireland
South Belfast
Joined November 2011
- As I understand it, the current position of the UK Prime Minister, who has just told the country that a mutated strain of a deadly virus which has killed 70k means Christmas must be cancelled, is that is 'likely' he will cut off the country's main supply route on New Years Eve
- Says the man hiring 50,000 customs officers rather than 50,000 nurses and doctorsReplying to @PARLYapp.@michaelgove says remaining in the “European Union lite” would mean spending money that should be spent on the NHS
- Brandon Lewis just confirmed the new Bill will break international law. On the floor of the House of Commons a Cabinet minister had said the UK will break the law.
- This is too important to personalise but Boris Johnson is very bad at delivering a straight message. His journalistic and political careers have been about irony, metaphor, hints, codes and winks. Nothing in his life has prepared him for sincerity or seriousness.
- Kate Hoey, declaring grandly that 44 per cent of people in NI voted leave and deserve to have their vote fulfilled exactly as she wants. Unaware or indifferent to the fact that 44 per cent means less than half.
- I left the UK civil service largely out of frustration at what hard Brexit was going to mean for NI and all of Ireland, and the flippancy with which it was undertaken. But I couldn't have predicted that flippancy would become the utter contempt we see now. More fool me.
- Take no pleasure in pointing out that when we passed a motion in the NI Assembly calling for a transition extension in order get through the pandemic, it wasn't even acknowledged by the UK Govt.
- 🚨 That's it. The NI Assembly has passed a motion calling for a transition extension until we get through the COVID crisis. For the past 3 years the UK Govenrment said it wanted to listen to NI's representatives. We've spoken - over to them.
- Remotely exploding electronic devices with no knowledge of where they are, who is holding them or who is near them is surely another war crime by Israel.BREAKING: Eight people have been killed and 2,750 wounded — 200 of them critically — by exploding pagers across Lebanon, the country's health minister says. apnews.com/article/lebano…
- Cynical line now being pushed by Johnson & Truss: 'all NI parties say Protocol not working'. WRONG. Our party believes the Protocol is delivering vital protections and benefits to the NI economy. Yes, we want smoothest implementation possible. But we'd much rather no Brexit.
- Brexiteers used to raise the spectre of 'Brussels' using brute power to simply override the democratic wishes of the people of the UK. It was a myth, but it does literally describe what the UK Government is doing to people in NI right now.
- I decided my maiden speech would work better if I looked like I was line dancing. That may have been wrong . But I stand by the message: Northern Ireland didn't consent to Brexit in 2016 and still doesn't now.SDLP South Belfast MLA @MatthewOToole2 is making his maiden speech in the Assembly opposing consent for the EU Withdrawal Bill
- The smirk on David Frost's face as he talks about the UK Government's interest in stability in NI says it all frankly.
