LAST UPDATE | 27 Apr 2023

POLITICIANS FROM BOTH the Republican and Unionist sides of Stormont have criticised a budget for Northern Ireland set out by the UK government in Westminster.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris outlined the budget today due to power-sharing institutions not being restored yet.

The budget, which was written in ministerial statement at Westminster, reflect similar amounts to the 2022/23 allocations.

Sinn Féin Deputy Leader Michelle O’Neill described the budget as “cruel and immoral”.

“It will damage our public services, our economy, and further compound the struggles of workers and families,” she said.

The shameful blocking of the Executive by one party has now left us at the whim of the Tories, who have a track record of brutal and savage austerity.

“We need the Executive back up and running now, with local Ministers in place taking decisions in the best interests of public services, workers and families.”

UUP Leader Doug Beattie said the budget is “grim”.

“That flat cash budget that we’ve got for departments is really a 10% decrease in real terms because there’s no inflationary add on to that whatsoever,” he said.

More importantly, there’s no flexibility within it for anything coming towards any of the pay deals that we need to do with the likes of the nurses and suchlike.

“It’s quite grim, if I’m really honest. But it’s been put to us and it’s difficult to have anything without a government up and running.” 

Additionally, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said he was “disappointed” with the budget as he expressed concern the Government was “playing politics with public services”.

“I think it is wrong for the Government to punish people in Northern Ireland,” Donaldson said. 

The Northern Irish Departments of Health and Education are broadly in line with the same allocations with Health to receive £7.3 billion (€8.25 billion) and Education to get £2.58 billion (€2.9 billion).

The Departments of Justice, Finance and Economy are among those facing reductions in their 2022/23 baselines.

The total non ring-fenced resource budget, a fund for day-to-day costs, is £14.211 billion (€15.95 billion), down on the £14.269 billion (€16.149 billion) baseline of 2022/23.

The overall budget for capital projects has slightly increased to £2.24 billion from £2.05 billion in the last financial year.

Heaton-Harris offered “flexibility” on a nearly £300 million (almost €340 million), overspend from Stormont as it tabled a budget for Northern Ireland.

The flexibility will allow for Northern Ireland to pay their £270 million over the course of two years, according to Heaton-Harris.

Civil servants are currently running public services in Northern Ireland and have been bracing themselves for a potentially brutal settlement.

This overspend was one of the main causes of concern for the UK Treasury as it attempted to recoup the sum as an advance down-payment to help balance Stormont’s books.

It had been anticipated from civil servants that the down-payment would have been substracted from this year’s block grant, meaning a severe decrease in the overall sum of the budget this year.

Heaton-Harris said that the British government is allowing Northern Ireland to pay the money back through the the Barnett system and if there was not enough to cover the cost, then the remainder could be recouped in the following financial year (2024/25).

“With agreement from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, flexibility has been granted on the repayment of the £297 million overspend from the 2022-23 Budget,” Heaton-Harris said.

Donaldson said that “a flat budget against the backdrop where we have 10% inflation, where we have public sector workers who are looking for pay awards and there’s no provision for that, that doesn’t help anyone, it doesn’t help in terms of the delivery of public services”.

Donaldson added he wanted to see Stormont back up and running but that the politicians need to “ensure that is is restored on a stable foundation”, adding that the foundation is not present “at the moment”.

“So I think it is regrettable if this budget is being used to play politics with our public services. No one should be doing that,” he said.

Heaton-Harris said that “difficult decisions remain” in the country “in order to live within the funding available”.

“To support this, I am committing any future in-year Barnett consequentials for 2023-24 to repaying the reserve claim,” he added.

Additional reporting by Muiris O’Cearbhaill and Lauren Boland