Off to a positive start as Northern parties show unified front
STORMONT has sent a unified call to the UK government for fair funding for the North, its first minister Michelle O’Neill said.
The Stormont parties united yesterday to call on prime minister Rishi Sunak to give the North the ‘resources that it needs to deliver effective public services’. The motion passed unanimously following a debate in the chamber.
An amendment by the Opposition SDLP calling on finance minister Caoimhe Archibald to work with ministers to produce costed plans for immediate priorities, was also passed.
Meanwhile, the Alliance Party has called for an independent commission to set out recommendations around a fiscal framework for the North.
It came the day after Mr Sunak and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar visited Parliament Buildings in Belfast to mark the return of devolved government in the North after a two-year effective collapse.
Mr Sunak said Stormont leaders
‘That’s not how we roll’
should focus on the ‘day-today’ concerns of people in the North rather than the prospect of a ballot on unification.
Earlier, Ms Archibald said she has written to the Treasury requesting a meeting to discuss ‘significant financial pressures’ facing public services.
The UK has pledged a £3.3billion (€3.9billion) package for a re-established Stormont administration.
However, Northern politicians have said the sum is insufficient to address public sector pay awards, public services and infrastructure.
In the Assembly chamber yesterday, Sinn Féin’s Sinéad Ennis brought a motion, backed by all parties, calling for the Executive to receive the ‘resources it needs to deliver effective public services’. During the debate, Michelle O’Neill said she and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly felt it was important that a ‘very clear sign of a shared view of the importance of the matter was sent out’.
She told MLAs they are sending a ‘very clear message to the British government’. ‘We’re not asking for special treatment. We’re asking for fairness and equality. We are asking for funding that reflects the needs of the people that we serve and we are asking for a funding model that is taken for granted in Scotland, Wales, but it’s being denied to us here,’ she said.
‘Just yesterday, we had the opportunity to meet with the prime minister and we put that to him directly, and we presented him with a letter setting all of the facts and clear evidence from the independent fiscal council that our funding is below made clear evidence, that this is the only devolved administration that is being treated in this unfair way, but the [UK] government still seeks to ignore that evidence.”
She added: ‘The [UK] government had hoped that we would be bowled over by the headline figure and rush to accept it without due diligence ... that’s not how we roll.’
Ms Little-Pengelly said that in her 17 years at Stormont, she had never seen the Executive collectively signing a letter on the first day. That sends a very strong and positive message and I hope it sends a very, very clear indication to the government that we are serious about this .... ’ she said.
Meanwhile, the chairs and vice chairs of Stormont committees were appointed yesterday. Those included SF MLA Declan Kearney as chairman of a committee to scrutinise the workings of the Windsor Framework. DUP MLA David Brooks is vice chair. SF’s Carál Ní Chuilín was elected as the principal deputy speaker.