The Upper Bann MLA, who is also the party's finance spokesperson, was speaking after a new report from the NI Audit Office found minimal progress on key City Deal projects since funding was secured in 2018 – with just 8% of the available investment spent and close to £40 million per year at risk of being lost because of the delays.

The report criticised the lack of oversight on progress and found that limited efforts are being made to ensure value for money.

“Northern Ireland’s City Deals have the potential to be game-changing for local communities and our wider economy, but major delays on progressing the projects is putting that opportunity in serious jeopardy”, Mr Tennyson said.

“The glacial pace of progress since funding was secured in 2018 is utterly unacceptable, and this isn’t just stifling the ambitions of the City Deal projects, but squandering tens of millions of pounds of the available funding at a time when the Executive must make every penny count.

“The Audit Office has uncovered a catalogue of failures in the management of City Deal projects and the checks in place to ensure value for money. That should be an urgent wake up call for the Finance Minister. If he doesn’t get to grips with the situation soon, there is a real risk that the potentially transformative impact of City Deals investment will be lost forever.”