Through a new law to end our city’s neglect, 2025 can be the year of opportunity for Derry

Too often, our people have been held back by those failures and the gap between the richest and poorest parts of Northern Ireland remains stubbornly wide. As recently as this time last year, a return to Stormont was far from certain, threatening to let Derry fall still further behind.

However, as we start 2025, I am convinced that the tide can turn. This year, we have a huge opportunity ahead, through the new law I am proposing to enshrine regional economic balance in law.

This new legislation - the Regional Jobs, Skills and Investment Bill - would finally address the long-standing and persistent disparities in our economy, ending the postcode lottery of opportunity in Northern Ireland and expanding opportunity.

It’s a cause I have championed at Stormont since our return last February, repeatedly challenging the Executive to adopt the proposal and confirming my intention to bring the law forward myself if it fails to do so.

Of course, some people have asked why I don’t just let the government get on with the job. Why do we need a law at all? After all, the Department for the Economy has now adopted regional balance as one of its four key priorities. Isn’t that enough?

In my view, it isn’t anywhere close to enough and Derry must not be shy in demanding more.

Take the new Sub-Regional Economic Plan recently published by Minister Murphy. It develops the idea of Local Economic Partnerships, calls on Invest NI to take a stronger sub-regional role and even sets a target for 65 per cent of investments to take place outside the Belfast Metropolitan Area. Those measures are long overdue, particularly for those of us who have been campaigning for years.

Yet the new plan also has no specific target or approach for Derry City as a regional capital that connects two jurisdictions and the second city that can drive higher productivity for the whole region.

Further, while it recognises the need for joined-up government on everything from health to transport, it has no measures to compel the Ministers responsible for those departments to act.

It’s hard sometimes not to be cynical and recognise this familiar language. In fact, I recently looked back at the 2011-2015 draft Programme for Government.

It talks about ‘addressing regional imbalance as we move ahead’. It has specific interventions at Fort George and Ebrington, but lacks any mention of transformational legislation. Sound familiar?

It’s hard to paraphrase that old maxim that to keep doing the same thing over and over again represents insanity.

Economic imbalance won’t fix itself. We need a better approach, one that is baked into law and provides for clear monitoring, tracking and reporting of outcomes. To tip the scales back in favour of places that have been left behind, we need nothing less than legislation. Anything else just won’t get the job done.

As I head back to Stormont after the Christmas break, I am optimistic that this can be the year when we finally secure a new law for Derry – and all those other places that need change.