While much of the focus on Sinn Féin’s poor polling numbers has been on their losing the room with regard to immigration, the Budget and the buoyant public finances underline the difficulty which all opposition parties have attempting to offer something better as an election looms.
Housing is the obvious area of weakness on the side of the Government and that appears immune to solution by means of budgetary measures. Shortages and accommodation costs are due to factors that have little to do with public finances, and more to do with sheer demand driven mostly by immigration. We are not going to rehearse all of that again. Suffice to say, the opposition is not convincing enough on housing to make that a game changer.
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