I, too, want to discuss the Friday fiasco in relation to the pausing of the city deals. The issue has concerned everyone in the Chamber as well as people across Northern Ireland. When the news emerged on Friday that funding for city deals had been paused, it was a gut-punch to many of us. That funding was hard fought for and was hard won over many years. The SDLP pioneered the concept of city deals when others dismissed their importance. The idea that the funding could be ripped away from our deal in Derry or from that in any part of Northern Ireland was as shocking as it was unacceptable.

It was particularly galling that the funding was paused just days before the deal was due to be signed this Wednesday in the Guildhall, threatening to rob our city and region of a huge opportunity and clutching defeat from the jaws of victory. Of course, in Derry, it is of central importance, given that the funding is part of the necessary financial investment that will guarantee the long-overdue expansion of higher education in our city, if we are to reach 10,000 students.

I am deeply concerned that the Executive were informed of this on Wednesday but chose to sit on the news until Friday afternoon. Anyone could have seen that saving the funding would require intense lobbying by those with influence as soon as possible. In Westminster, Colum Eastwood engaged with senior British Government Ministers in the Treasury to secure that funding, and I am pleased that we were able to ensure that it was secured within 24 hours.

That is only the start, however. As we stand, two of our city deals — Mid South West and Causeway Coast and Glens — are still at risk. That level of uncertainty is just not good enough. Such significant investment facing undue delays and disruption is counterproductive and extremely damaging. We are among the most deprived areas anywhere in the UK, and the city deals have transformational potential. We cannot afford to give up the opportunity for anywhere across the North, not least at the last possible hour. The city deals need to be delivered at pace, and we must ensure that that happens.