UK Government ‘don’t get it’ over NI funding, Michelle O’Neill says

The UK Government “don’t get it” when it comes to funding Northern Ireland properly, Michelle O’Neill has claimed.

The First Minister said if the region received funding at the same level of need as Scotland, Stormont ministers would have an additional £3 billion of spending power.

Ms O’Neill said she would “unapologetically” continue to make the case to the Treasury for extra resources.

Stormont ministers have consistently warned of serious funding challenges facing their departments.

After the Executive exceeded its budget in the last financial year, the UK Government allocated £400 million from reserves to deal with overspend pressures in health and education.

The money has to be repaid over the next three years and the Treasury conducted an “open-book exercise” looking at the Executive budget.

The Treasury report said Stormont ministers could make decisions which would unlock up to £3.3 billion in additional spending power each year.

The report examined a number of options which could “improve the sustainability of the Northern Ireland budget”, including revenue-raising steps, pay issues and efficiencies.

Ms O’Neill told the Press Association: “I think it is pretty clear that the British Government don’t get it because for years we’ve been making the exact same argument.

“The fact is the starting point here is that we are under-funded.

“We participated with that open book review because we knew it would make our case in terms of the fact that, relatively speaking, when you compare the funding that Scotland achieve and what Wales achieve compared to our starting point, there’s a distinct unfairness there.

“To give you a really good practical example, if we’re funded to the same tune as Wales, we would have £1.1 billion in additional funding.

“If we’re funded to the same tune as they are in Scotland above their level of need, we would have £3 billion in additional funding.”

The Sinn Fein vice-president said the “fundamental unfairness” in how Northern Ireland has been funded had been going on for decades.

She added: “And then build upon the years of austerity, Brexit and the real-life implications of that means that it’s a very, very challenging financial position for this Executive to be in.

“That being said, I could have wrote those recommendations that were in the open book review from the Treasury.

“Very predictable. They’re in the Fiscal Council’s work that has been done previously. They’re very unrealistic.

“If I took them down, I could dissect many of them bit by bit, because they’re not comparing like for like. They’re comparing charges in England versus charges here.

“And these things are distinctly different, it is apples and oranges in many ways in terms of what they’re trying to do a direct comparison upon.”

Ms O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly have previously called for a meeting with Sir Keir Starmer to discuss budget challenges in Northern Ireland.

However, she rejected the argument that the Executive is continually going to the UK Government “with a begging bowl”.

She said: “I’m not apologetic for that, because I want fairness.

“People here pay their taxes, businesses here pay their VAT, they’re entitled to investment in their public services in return.

“I think the sheer scale of the level of underfunding in comparable terms to Scotland and Wales is really stark.

“So, that’s the starting point in which we collectively as a four-party Executive make the case to the Treasury for a proper funding model.”

Ms O’Neill said people in the region also needed a package from the UK Government to deal with cost-of-living pressures.

She said: “People need help to get them through these tough times with energy costs, fuel costs, inflation going through the roof, everything that people are contending with.

“People are getting it hard and they need our support.”