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Stormont’s leaders have insisted their call for a “fairer” model for Northern Ireland is not a case of reaching out a “begging bowl” to the Treasury.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill, deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly and Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald were in London on Thursday for a meeting with Chancellor Rachel Reeves to press for an enhanced formula for calculating the amount of Government money allocated to the devolved Executive.
Ms O’Neill accused previous Conservative governments of “decimating” public services in Northern Ireland.
She expressed concerns that Labour was set to continue with an “austerity” agenda and urged a change of direction.
The Sinn Fein vice president said the four-party powersharing coalition in Belfast was “united” in its demand for improved funding for Stormont.
“It is about what’s right,” she said. “This is about standing up for good public services. This is about investment in our health services, about investment in our education system, it’s about what’s right for the public that we represent.
“We as an executive are determined to transform our public services, but for 14 years they’ve been decimated by the Tories. For 14 years, they’ve been really brought to their knees. And that needs to be reformed. That needs to be changed. So Labour need to change policy, change tack.”
She added: “We’re not here, absolutely not here, with a begging bowl. We’re here for what is right and what is fair, and a fair funding model. We have been underfunded for many, many years. It’s now time to turn that picture around.”
Ms Little Pengelly said it was “offensive” to portray their calls for more funding as begging.
She said people and businesses in Northern Ireland paid taxes like anywhere else in the UK and they deserved to have properly funded public services in return.
“We will unashamedly stand up for the people of Northern Ireland,” said the DUP MLA.
“I think the references to begging bowl is actually very offensive to the people and the businesses of Northern Ireland, all of whom pay their taxes just like anyone else, and all of whom absolutely deserve to have the fair funding formula to have the public services that they need.
“The Treasury has recognised Northern Ireland has those additional needs for a range of issues. It is also recognised that we have been underfunded for a number of years. So, that’s the challenge that we’re putting to the Chancellor.
“These decisions are political choices. She references a £22 billion black hole (in the UK’s finances), but the Labour Government has also announced £25 billion worth of expenditure. So what we’re asking this Labour Government to do is to step up, defend public services, invest in public services.
“Do not be balancing the books on the backs of pensioners and hard-pressed families who are the least capable in this country and across this United Kingdom to pay for it.
“Do the right thing. Stand up for public services and invest in our public services.”
On Monday, Ms O’Neill and Ms Little Pengelly launched a programme for government identifying nine key priority areas for the administration in the remaining two and half years of the current Assembly mandate.
Both made clear that delivering all the objectives would require enhanced funding for the region.
Northern Ireland’s public services are facing intense financial pressure.
On Tuesday, Ms Archibald urged Executive colleagues to take “urgent action” to rein in spending after revealing that departments are currently overcommitted by £767 million.
She said the administration was expecting around £500 million in extra funding from the UK Government following next month’s Budget through the Barnett funding model used to distribute money to the devolved regions.
But she highlighted that would still leave the Executive facing a funding gap of around £267 million.
Ms Archibald said there would be “grave consequences” if the administration overspent its budget, as she warned that failure to balance the books by the end of the financial year would see the Government withdraw a previous offer to write off £559 million worth of debt owed to the Treasury.
The Sinn Fein Finance minister accompanied Ms O’Neill and Ms Little Pengelly to Thursday afternoon’s meeting with the Chancellor at the Treasury.
She described the discussion with Ms Reeves as “useful” but declined to be drawn on whether the Chancellor had made any fresh financial commitments to Stormont.
“I think we recognise the scale of the challenge facing the new Labour Government and the mess that they have inherited from the Tories – after 14 years of austerity our public services are crying out for investment,” she said.
“So I and my colleagues took the opportunity to impress upon the Chancellor the need to use the upcoming budget to invest in public services and public sector workers.
“We took the opportunity to have a useful discussion with the Chancellor across a whole range of issues. We as an Executive are committed to putting our finances on a stable footing and to transforming our public services. To do that is going to require investment, both in terms of public services but also in terms of infrastructure.”
Speaking to reporters as they arrived at the Treasury, the first and deputy first ministers were asked would they be prepared to offer to introduce new revenue-raising measures in Northern Ireland as part of any deal to improve the funding model for the region.
Ms Little Pengelly said it would be “unacceptable” to introduce more charges or taxes on people in Northern Ireland before improvements were made to public services.
“The people of Northern Ireland do generate revenue,” she said.
“They do that week in and week out, as do the businesses and as do many others. And, therefore, what we’re asking for is for that fair funding formula. I think everybody recognises, not just in Northern Ireland but across the United Kingdom, that our public services have been absolutely starved of funding over the last number of years and it requires that investment.
“To actually ask people to pay more right now for poorer public services than they were even five or 10 years ago to us is unacceptable.
“What we want to say to people is that we have that programme, an ambitious programme of investment, of reform, that we’re going to improve public services. We have a plan. We’ve just released our programme for government, which has that ambition, but we need those resources to invest to improve those public services before we can start to talk about those types of issues.”
Ms O’Neill said the Executive would “play its part” when it came to achieving a sustainable budget in the future.
“That’s our commitment,” she said.
“But what we absolutely need, and what’s crucial if we’re going to actually fix and turn this picture around and actually fix our public services, is a proper investment package to transform our health system, to transform our education system.
“We want to have this good, constructive engagement with the Treasury, but we need this model to be right. We have been underfunded for far too long. Now is the time to actually fix what’s been wrong.”
The ministers said they would also continue to urge the UK government to reverse the decision to means test the winter fuel allowance for pensioners.
The policy change is to be replicated by the Stormont Executive as the cost of continuing with a universal payment for pensioners would have to be found from with its own coffers.
“We’re not going to give up, we’re going to push that case very hard,” Ms O’Neill said of the Government’s cut to the fuel allowance.
“There’ll be a lot of older people who’ll be sitting this winter worrying about how they’re going to either heat their homes or put food on their table. It’s a dire situation. It’s a very poor place for the Labour Government to start. So we will make that case very strongly today. We’re not going to give up.”
Ms Little Pengelly said she would be “robust” with the Government on the issue.
“We believe that this was the wrong decision. It’s really disappointing that this is one of the first decisions that the Labour Government has decided to make,” she said.
Earlier, DUP leader Gavin Robinson expressed doubt that Ms Reeves was in “listening mode” with regard to the calls for better funding for Stormont.
Mr Robinson said it was right that the ministers advance the argument.
He told the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme: “They clearly have a responsibility around sustainability of budgets and finance but they are right to highlight the fact that Northern Ireland has been completely denuded of sustainable and fair funding for our public services.
“That doesn’t ignore the challenges that we have before us here in Northern Ireland but it is fair that those are appropriately reflected with the Chancellor in London.
“But I’m not sure the Chancellor is in the position to listen.
“She has just stripped £300 out of every pensioner’s pocket in the United Kingdom and she has done that to placate trade union barons on pay deals and other pet projects.”
Following the meeting, a UK Government spokesman said: “We’ve been clear that tough decisions must be taken to restore economic stability and address the £22 billion hole in the public finances left by the last government.
“This is a challenge facing the whole of the UK including Northern Ireland, where a £3.3 billion package has been provided to the Executive to support choices that stabilise public finances and transform public services.
“We are committed to working with the Executive on our shared priorities, to fix the foundations of our economy and make every part of the United Kingdom better off.”