Alliance leader Naomi Long has hit back at Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris for blaming local politicians entirely for Stormont's budget problems.
She said the idea "his hands are clean is frankly laughable" as she referenced his support of Brexit and former Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
Mrs Long said that "rather than lecture and ignore his own flaws", Mr Heaton-Harris should work with parties to make Stormont's finances more stable and sustainable.
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The Secretary of State set a budget last week in the absence of a power-sharing Executive which sees overall funding cut by 3.3% when accounting for inflation.
It means cuts of £800million will need to be made to public spending, with Stormont civil servants left to make decisions within individual departments to balance the books.
There has been pressure on the Secretary of State to push for extra Treasury funding and provide civil servants with more political direction on spending decisions.
But at an event earlier this week, Mr Heaton-Harris said: "Northern Ireland politicians got the budget into the state it's in. Northern Ireland politicians need to get us out of it."
Speaking at the Alliance Party's council election manifesto launch, Mrs Long dismissed the Northern Ireland secretary's "throwaway remark".
She said: "It's almost as though Chris Heaton-Harris didn't support government austerity cuts. It's almost as though he didn't champion Brexit, which has caused much of the disruption that we are facing at the moment.
"It's almost as though he didn't back Boris Johnson and Liz Truss who damaged our economy immeasurably.
"The idea that all of the challenges we face are simply down to local politicians and that his hands are clean is frankly laughable."
She said Mr Heaton-Harris should work with local politicians on providing "additional investment from Westminster which is tied to a reform agenda".
The Alliance leader added: "That is good for everyone, and so rather than lecture and ignore his own flaws, I think Chris Heaton-Harris ought to be backing our agenda at the Cabinet table."
The upcoming election follows more than a year of no Stormont government due to the DUP blocking the institutions in protest against Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol.
Mrs Long said she understood and shared the "frustration" of members of the public.
"They voted last year and they got nothing in return, and I think that they worry that they will vote this year and be ignored yet again by the people they vote for," she said.
"Well I'm saying very clearly - if you vote Alliance, that will not be the case."
She added: "You can send a message directly to those who are blocking the Assembly being reformed, who are blocking the Assembly being restored, and tell them what you want are politicians that work. And a vote for Alliance is the clearest way to give that indication."
Alliance is standing 110 candidates in the council election - 26 more than in the last local government poll in 2019.
A surge in support for the party last time saw its council seat tally increase by 21 to 53.
They will be aiming for further gains on May 18 after more than doubling their number of MLAs in elections last year to become Stormont's third-largest party.
Speaking at CIYMS in East Belfast, Mrs Long said the increase in support for Alliance has "shaken the political system".
She added: "I set no ceiling on our ambitions in terms of what size of party we will be after this election or any future election."
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