Northern Ireland has been given a temporary reprieve from swingeing cuts in health, education and policing after the government offered it flexibility on a £300m overspend in its budget.
But the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, said that in the long term politicians and officials needed to do more to drive down costs to bring the region into line with spending in the rest of the UK.
His announcement comes after “profound concern” was raised by one of the most senior civil servants in Northern Ireland of the damage that could be caused if it were forced to repay £297m in debt this year.
He has agreed a two-year repayment schedule and left Northern Ireland’s £14.2bn annual budget largely untouched in the coming year.
In a written ministerial statement, Heaton-Harris announced he had been granted “flexibility” by the chief secretary to the Treasury, which would “provide some protection to frontline public services in Northern Ireland from having to take the most severe reductions”.
The health department will get a slight increase of 0.5% with infrastructure getting a 0.4% rise in budget. Funding for abortion services is ringfenced.
Ulster Unionist health spokesperson, Alan Chambers, warned of turmoil, saying “a flat cash allocation” would mean a reduction in real terms which would have “profound consequences” in Northern Ireland where waiting lists are the worst in the UK.
Decreases of just under 2% will be imposed on education, justice – which includes policing the economy – communities and agriculture.
However, he warned “difficult decisions remain in order to live within the funding available” pointing out that Northern Ireland gets more cash than any other devolved region.
“The Northern Ireland budget per person is around 20% higher than equivalent UK government spending in other parts of the UK yet the level of public services offered are still not affordable and outcomes are not improving.”
In a highly unusual move, Jayne Brady, the head of Northern Ireland’s civil service, wrote to the Northern Ireland secretary, Heaton-Harris, on Wednesday warning of the damage if he imposed “unprecedented” budget reductions to pay back a £297m overspend to the Treasury this financial year.
Legislation was also tabled to extend civil servants’ rights to launch consultation on revenue-raising endeavours until power-sharing resumed in Stormont and a ministerial executive was in place to make decisions.
Heaton-Harris was due to meet party leaders at lunchtime to discuss the budget decisions.
He faced a slew of criticism from Northern Ireland politicians, who have been warning that the overspend was outside their control as it was made to support crisis finance needed to cover energy bill subsidies and pay inflation in the wake of the Ukraine war.
The Social Democratic and Labour party (SDLP) leader and MP for Foyle, Colum Eastwood, said it was a “serious error in judgment” not to allow a debate in parliament
Emma Little-Pengelly, a DUP member of the legislative assembly of Northern Ireland, said: “There has been a lack of acknowledgment from London that the overspend is a result of increases in pay and other inflationary costs and there was no extra budget given for that so it had to be found from our block grant.”
