Northern Ireland leaders call for meeting with Keir Starmer over budget

Northern Ireland’s leaders have called for a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer about budgetary constraints amid a fuel crisis.

The Northern Ireland Executive met on Thursday morning after a week where some farmers took part in slow-moving tractor convoys on busy roads to protest against the hike in fuel prices triggered by the war in Iran.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill said ministers around the table had outlined “stark” budgetary issues in delivering public services across their departments and said the budget was “at breaking point”.

She and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said they had decided to call for a cross-party meeting with Sir Keir in relation to the budget allocated to Northern Ireland’s powersharing institutions.

“Political choices being made in London are creating a really difficult atmosphere for our Executive to be able to work with,” she said.

“We had invited Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State, along today – he couldn’t make it (because of) diary arrangements, apparently.

“However, we as an Executive have today decided that we want to meet with Keir Starmer.

“We make a direct appeal to the British Prime Minister to meet with us in a cross-party delegation, because the budget realities that we face are so challenging and so dire and so difficult that he needs to listen to the concerns that all of us are expressing on behalf of the people that we collectively serve.”

She added: “The direct message from this Executive today is it’s not good enough for Keir Starmer not to listen. It’s not good enough for Keir Starmer not to turn up.

“But what it demonstrates for the people here is that policy decisions that are being taken in London, this reckless war that’s happening internationally, those things all have consequences.

“Bad policy decisions in London have consequences for the people here.”

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly called on Sir Keir “to act and to act now”, because the UK Government has “the tools, it has the responsibility, and this is the moment to use both”.

“Our message to the Prime Minister is simple: this cannot wait. People cannot wait,” she said.

“We need a comprehensive package of support and we need it now, because behind every statistic is a family and behind every decision we make must be a determination to stand with them.”

Ms O’Neill and Ms Little-Pengelly were speaking after announcing a further £19.2 million scheme to give one-off £100 vouchers to help people pay for the cost of home heating oil.

It comes after £17 million in funding was allocated to Northern Ireland as part of the British Government’s response to a sharp spike in heating oil costs because of the war in the Middle East.

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said if the NI Executive had not announced further funding, people would have only received £45, which he said would have been a “small return” for people in Northern Ireland.

Around 300,000 low-income households are expected to qualify for the voucher, which people will be able to apply for online for the £100.

Those who are receiving an income-based benefit, a disability benefit or a state pension, as well as households whose income is less than £30,000 are eligible for the vouchers.

Ms Little-Pengelly said that she knows farmers are “under pressure” as fertiliser costs increase, and said the Executive were “actively working on” this issue.

“People are angry out there. They’re incredibly apprehensive,” she said, adding that Sir Keir needed to “step up and do everything that he can”.

“We want to make very clear that we understand the pressure that farming is under.

“We understand why they would want to register a protest, that they need that support.

“But of course, we would urge people to be responsible – the disruption to other businesses, disruption to people in terms of critical work, is very challenging for everyone.

“We don’t need to be persuaded by the farmers that they’re under pressure, we get that, we understand that, and we’ll be doing everything we can to stand up for them.

“Indeed, we had this discussion at the Executive, and we had asked for the Agriculture Minister to write formally in relation to the range of these issues, and to ask for that additional support for our farmers across the UK, but particularly here in Northern Ireland.”

On Thursday, the UK Government announced it would provide the Northern Ireland Executive with funding to develop a British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) in Northern Ireland, subject to business case approval.