Some of the findings of a Treasury review into Stormont finances are “absolutely preposterous”, deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has said.
Northern Ireland’s political leaders have been sharply critical of the Treasury exercise which stated that Stormont ministers could make decisions which would unlock up to £3.3 billion in additional spending power each year to assist with its challenging financial situation.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill said the review had the “wrong starting point” while Ms Little-Pengelly said it had been “an absolute missed opportunity”.
The report examined a number of options which could “improve the sustainability of the Northern Ireland budget”, including increased efficiencies and revenue-raising.
SDLP’s Stormont leader Matthew O’Toole said the review points to a “structurally chaotic situation”.
Ms Little-Pengelly said: “I think some of what is in there doesn’t stand up to even the most basic of scrutiny.
“Who is suggesting that we are going to raise over £3bn in one year from a population of approximately 1.9 million?
“The burden of that on hard-pressed families in Northern Ireland would be extraordinary.
“I think there is no need to go into some of that detail because I don’t think many of the references within this report stand up to any scrutiny whatsoever and I am saying that as somebody who is naturally someone with a high level of fiscal responsibility when it comes to these matters.”
Ms Little-Pengelly said she believed Northern Ireland needed to be “playing its part” in driving public sector efficiencies.
She added: “This is what I had hoped would come through from an open book exercise, in terms of all kinds of issues that we face here, increased demand, issues within our health service, the socio-economic demographics that we are working with here with increased needs, the increased policing need … it does mean that we need to have proper financing for our public services.
“What we have got this year is simply not sufficient and indeed a series of proposed revenue-raising and transformation couldn’t be done in-year anyway, it is an absolute impossibility.
“Let’s have a real conversation, let’s have a detailed conversation, but it has to be one based on fact, it has to be one based on some logic.
“This idea for example… 124p is your assessed level of need, policing is 160p-plus, just bring it down to 124p, even the idea of trying to do that within year is just absolutely preposterous.
“Let’s have a sensible conversation, we have communicated that to the Treasury.”
Ms O’Neill said Stormont departments had taken part in the open book exercise because “we believe we have got a strong case to make”.
She added: “We have been under-funded for well over a decade and then some.
“There needs to be a fair allocation. When you compare our allocation as an Executive with what Scotland have or what Wales have, we are below that position with our identified needs.
“We have needs here as a society, we are a society that is coming from all those years of under-funding and we are trying to catch up.”
She added: “In terms of the Open Book Review and the revenue raising, I think a lot of that is academic because it is ignoring the point that when you compare Scotland’s allocation and Wales’s allocation, and fair play to them for being in that position.
“But we only want what is fair for the people that we represent, we want to engage Keir Starmer on this, we want to put it directly to him that there needs to be a proper funding model which allows us to do the things we want to do, to deliver a better health service, to deliver better on special educational needs, to deliver better on childcare.
“But it is the starting point which is wrong. It is very hard to go out to the public and talk about raising funds when their services are decimated day by day because of the lack of investment over the years.”
Mr O’Toole said: “We are now in the farcical situation of an open book exercise, heralded by the Finance Minister as a means to improve the Executive’s fiscal settlement, being buried by the Executive until it was leaked.
“While some of the assumptions can be questioned, it appears to point to a structurally chaotic situation.
“The UK Government and Executive cannot agree to even publish a high-level analysis of the budget while the Finance Minister now appears to be disowning a budget he himself wrote and laid before the Assembly.
“While the public struggle with costs and declining public services, it is unacceptable for the Executive to simply refuse to accept responsibility for passing a budget.”
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