Northern Ireland Secretary urged to ‘get real’ on funding ahead of UK Budget

Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant has been urged to “get real” on funding for the region ahead of the UK Budget announcement.Stormont Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins urged Sir Chris to “listen” to the “clear message” from all the parties on the Executive that the current funding for the region is not enough to deliver public services.Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins said ‘we continue to engage with the Secretary of State and with the British Treasury’ (PA)PA ArchiveThis has left Executive departments restricted to spending only up to 95% of last year’s funding.The UK Government has offered an extra £1.5 billion over the next three years in an effort to assist with balancing the books, but Stormont’s leaders insist that is not enough.Chancellor John Healey is to announce the UK Budget on Wednesday.Last week DUP leader Gavin Robinson suggested that the Barnett consequentials, funding adjustments given to Scotland and Wales as well as Northern Ireland in response to adjusted policy spending in England, could close the funding gap enough to give Stormont ministers a “fighting chance” to balance its budget.He was speaking after the Executive parties met individually with Sir Chris at Stormont.Following the meetings at Parliament Buildings, a spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Office said Sir Chris has committed to having further engagement with the parties after the UK Budget.On Monday Ms Kimmins said they will see what comes this week.“We’ve been here time and time again, and we continue to engage with the Secretary of State and with the British Treasury,” she told media in Belfast.Department for Infrastructure official Tony Rafferty outlining plans as Liz Kimmins looks on (PA)PA WireSpeaking at the launch of a major plan to transform transport in Northern Ireland, Ms Kimmins described a real example of Stormont wanting to transform but being restricted by its “shoestring” budget.There is no final estimate for the cost of the Transport Strategy 2035, but it is expected to be in the millions.Ms Kimmins added: “The clear message from all Executive parties at this stage is that the budget that is on the table is simply not enough. We want to be able to transform our public transport network, we want to be able to transform our transport systems – and today is a real example of that – but we can’t on a shoestring budget that doesn’t fully address the serious underfunding that we’ve had for well over a decade.Read More“The Secretary of State needs to get real around this, and he needs to really listen to what all parties are saying here and ensure that we can deliver for people.“We’ll see what comes out this week.“We have been in this negotiation for some time, we will continue to engage to get the best deal for people here so we can really deliver good public services for everybody, not least what is most important for all of us which is public sector pay.”