Negotiations with the UK Government over a financial offer to ease Stormont spending pressures are entering “no-deal territory”, a devolved minister has warned.
Stormont Education Minister Paul Givan, of the DUP, criticised Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant over a “laissez-faire attitude” in his approach to the talks to assist with setting a budget for the region.
Finance Minister John O’Dowd, of Sinn Féin, indicated unity across the Executive on the budget, saying the current offering is “not a fair deal”, adding: “At the very core of this dispute is fairness and equality of treatment.
“Taxpayers here, workers, families and business owners, deserve a fair return on their taxes and they’re not getting that.”
Mr O’Dowd said the Executive will have to sit down together and decide its position, and find a way to pay public sector workers.
“We have to resolve those issues in the next number of weeks, and get that sorted, in terms of the offer on the table, I don’t see anyone saying its a good offer or anybody accepting it as a final offer,” he said.
Sir Chris told Stormont party leaders on Thursday there will be no improvement on the current financial offer made to the powersharing Executive.
He has asked ministers to respond to the offer by next Thursday and has indicated he could set a budget for the region if devolved ministers fail to do so.
The UK Government has made a financial offer slightly above £1.5 billion over the next three years in an effort to assist with balancing the budget.
Stormont departments have been operating without a budget since the beginning of the current financial year.
Ministers in the devolved powersharing Executive have insisted they cannot strike a budget for 2026/27 without additional financial support from Westminster.
Devolved departments are currently allowed to spend up to 95% of last year’s funding in the absence of ministers agreeing the budget.
Responding to the Northern Ireland Secretary’s remarks on Thursday, Mr Givan said he “if he continues to take the approach that he outlined yesterday, then it is moving into a no-deal territory”.
He told the BBC Good Morning Ulster programme: “We have sought to engage with the UK government right from the earliest point of this financial year when we flagged up that the cliff-edge had been reached in terms of our financial supports that the government provided back in 2023.”
He added: “We didn’t wait until this week or two months ago to be raising this issue with the Treasury and the UK Government.
“We proactively, as an Executive, highlighted this issue to the Prime Minister.
“We said that there was going to be a financial challenge this year, and that we needed a partnership approach.
“We have sought to provide information to work constructively, and yet we have been frustrated by, not just this Secretary of State, but a previous secretary of state with their laissez-faire attitude in terms of coming to the table with the sense of urgency that was required.
“Now he puts down this ultimatum. If that is his style of negotiation, then it isn’t going to bode well for trying to get a settled outcome, which is what the people of Northern Ireland need.”
Mr Givan accused the Northern Ireland Secretary of using an “almost take it or leave it” approach.
He said: “We want to be able to sit down and work through these issues with the Government, but they have to recognise some of the fundamentals are below need in terms of the assessment that has been carried out.
“We are not being unreasonable in saying if Wales has a formula which is more advantageous to their people compared to Northern Ireland, Scotland has an even more generous allocation of funding, which they would say is based upon what they need.
“We believe that people in Northern Ireland should be treated similarly.”
Mr O’Dowd said the Executive is pressing for more money to pay for frontline public services, public sector workers and to support the economy.
“Our dispute is based on a number of elements, we’ve been underfunded for many years but also if you look at our counterparts in Scotland and Wales, significantly funded above their level of need, in a more fair way,” he said.
“We as an Executive, and representatives of the people here, should be funded in a fair way and that money being invested in our public services.”
He added that neither Sir Chris nor his predecessor Hilary Benn “has been able to refute our argument that we’re underfunded compared to Scotland and Wales”.
“So the Secretary of State coming on the airwaves saying it’s the final deal, there’s no more money to be got, isn’t a response to the fundamental centre of this argument – this is about fairness and equality of treating people here with a modicum of respect in terms of how they get a return on their taxes,” he said.
The financial offer currently on the table has not changed since it was made in writing to the parties on September 10.
It includes £450 million resource funding in 2026/27, then £400 million in the following two financial years.
It pledges £50 million in funding in each of the three years for transformation of public services, which the Government wants the Northern Ireland Executive to match.
The offer also includes £50 million in capital funding for social housing in 2027/28 and 2028/29.
While the additional funding is not guaranteed beyond the three-year period, there is a commitment to consider baselining it as part of the spending review process.
The Executive would also be allowed to keep 50% of funds collected from additional fraud and error identified in the welfare system.
It is understood the offer comes with a series of conditions.
Part of the Secretary of State’s talks with local parties has also included Stormont reform, but that is being dealt with separately from budget discussions.
