AFTER over two years in the Assembly, Matthew O'Toole is hoping to be sent back to Stormont by the people of South Belfast. Matthew has been an MLA for South Belfast since January 2020 when he was co-opted to replace Claire Hanna MP, who left Stormont for Westminster after having taken the seat from the DUP.

He says the biggest issue on the doorstep is the cost of living crisis, which Matthew says is the SDLP's top priority. More needs to be done in Stormont, he said, to make money available to people struggling to pay their bills.

“We need to get the money out quickly,” he said. “When the DUP collapsed the Executive, it left £300 million unspent, which should have gone to helping people. We need to get that money out quickly and straightforwardly. Stormont isn’t always good at designing these schemes. But we got the £100 voucher out to people last year, and schemes like this can be utilised again towards helping people with the cost of living.”

Brexit is an issue that has constantly been in Matthew's focus during his time in Stormont – indeed, he was appointed party spokesperson on the issue.

“I have been at the forefront of and passionate about speaking out against Brexit. South Belfast was one of the highest areas across the North and in the UK against Brexit. The Remain vote really resonated with people here and I believe they have seen that I have been a strong advocate for the interests of South Belfast, the Remain vote and also the special considerations that have been adopted such as the Protocol.”

During his time as MLA Matthew has also been the SDLP’s spokesperson on public finance. He says the public still have a lack of trust in how the government here spends its money, partly due to scandals such as the RHI scandal, which collapsed the Executive several years ago. Another focus in South Belfast has been the effect of the ‘brain drain’, wherein a large amount of highly educated and skilled workers are leaving the North to find better employment opportunities overseas.

“We have the highest level of educational migration in these islands. People leave and don’t come back, and part of that reason is economic opportunities. I proposed the ‘Make Change Programme’ which aims to get more young people into the civil service and employment, so ensuring that younger people have more opportunities and a reason to stay here. I have also been working with the New Ireland Commission which is focused on constitutional change in Ireland, and creating a united and prosperous new Ireland.”

Matthew has been involved in trying to improve the licensing laws in the North and to make it easier for the likes of taprooms to obtain licences. The current legislation does not allow for the creation of new licences, so old ones are merely circulated. He says reform of this issue would be a big boost to a hospitality sector which suffered badly from the pandemic. He hit the headlines recently when he spoke frankly on the Nolan Show about how attention was being paid more to noisy anti-Protocol voices than to issues such as the cost of living.

“I will say Nolan is entitled to make his own editorial choices, and he is a very talented broadcaster. He does operate the biggest show in the country and his programme does reach a lot of people who don’t otherwise engage in politics or current affairs, and he is good at investigating certain issues. We are not saying that certain people shouldn’t be on the show, and I don’t believe it would be right of a politician to say that, but I asked a simple question about the volume of appearances of certain people, which is an important question to ask as he is a public service broadcaster.”

He continued: “I have been prominent in speaking about the Protocol and people would surely raise it with me, given I have been out there talking about it, but they don’t, it’s not something that’s happened. South Belfast is a diverse area with people of all political backgrounds and beliefs, and while I’m not saying there aren’t people who care about the Protocol, I am saying that when speaking with people it hasn’t been at the top of their agenda.”

And his final message to the voters?

“I’m so privileged to be running in South Belfast, and for having been an elected rep in South Belfast for the last two and half years. People tell me all the time how proud they are of South Belfast and how diverse it is, people have different backgrounds and different views, but for many people I speak to, the diversity of South Belfast is something they treasure and I will keep that in mind in representing everyone who lives here.”