{"id":1064187,"date":"2026-07-02T17:34:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T17:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1064187\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T17:34:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T17:34:28","slug":"northern-ireland-finances-need-to-move-to-long-term-sustainable-footing-chief-secretary-to-treasury-says-after-hillsborough-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1064187\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Ireland finances need to move to \u2018long-term sustainable footing\u2019, Chief Secretary to Treasury says after Hillsborough meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

A political process aimed at moving Northern Ireland\u2019s finances on to a \u201clong-term sustainable\u201d footing is to begin, Hilary Benn has said.<\/p>\n

The Northern Ireland Secretary was joined by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Lucy Rigby, for meetings with the leaders of the parties in the powersharing Executive to discuss Stormont\u2019s<\/a> budget crisis.<\/p>\n

The two Labour ministers said a programme of work would begin on Friday to understand the financial pressures that Stormont departments are facing.<\/p>\n

Devolved ministers have failed to agree a budget for the current financial year, with departments operating on contingency budgets since April.<\/p>\n

\"Eleanor<\/a>\"PSNI<\/a><\/p>\n

Ministers have consistently made the point that they need more funding from the Treasury to address a funding crisis facing public services in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

After the Executive exceeded its budget in the previous financial year, the UK Government allocated \u00a3400 million from reserves to deal with overspend pressures in health<\/a> and education<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The money has to be repaid over the next three years and the Treasury conducted an \u201copen-book exercise\u201d looking at the Executive budget.<\/p>\n

The Hillsborough talks on Thursday were attended by Sinn F\u00e9in, the DUP, the Alliance Party and the Ulster Unionists<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking afterwards, Mr Benn said it had been a \u201cproductive day\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"NorthernNorthern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby speaking to the media (Jonathan McCambridge\/PA) <\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe have agreed a programme of work that will start tomorrow, which will involve officials from the Treasury, the Northern Ireland Office and the Northern Ireland Civil Service, that will look first of all at the pressures that the Executive\u2019s finances are facing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to fully understand what those are, and that detailed work can now begin with full disclosure.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecondly, to look at the Executive\u2019s plan for fiscal sustainability and efficiencies and public services transformation, because what we\u2019re all agreed on is we can\u2019t deal with this by finding another one-off fix.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a long-term sustainable plan for the future of Northern Ireland\u2019s finances, and this is the start of a political process with that objective in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Rigby added: \u201cThe objective here is to try and ensure that the Executive\u2019s finances can move on to a sustainable footing for the long term.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be further work that\u2019s going to continue tomorrow, and then hopefully over the summer as well, importantly, sharing information about the current status of budget pressures, the drivers behind those pressures and, as well, emphasis on the plans for fiscal reform that we hope will help to ensure that the Executive\u2019s finances can move on to that sustainable footing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DUPDUP leader Gavin Robinson attended the talks at Hillsborough Castle <\/p>\n

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said he had been asking for a process around Stormont\u2019s budgetary challenges since last October.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt would have been better to our mind if there had been engagement in a detailed and a sincere way since that period of time, because it is unconscionable that we\u2019re in a position we are today, which is three months into a financial cycle and no budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear to us from our engagement that whilst the willingness is there across the political spectrum in Northern Ireland, this exercise is around trying to get the best advice necessary for the Prime Minister.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIf the outcome of the process that the Secretary of State was hoping for today was that the Government should have access to the financial information from each of our departments, I answered that in five minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that the (Treasury) open book process that concluded a couple of months ago didn\u2019t culminate in a good understanding of departmental information is a strange place to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there is now collective agreement that information should be made available.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that allows the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Secretary of State and the Government more generally to understand and appreciate some of the real financial challenges that are going to need to be grappled for the people of Northern Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Sinn F\u00e9in delegation (left to right) Conor Murphy, Mary Lou McDonald, Michelle O\u2019Neill and John O\u2019Dowd speaking to the media (Jonathan McCambridge\/PA) <\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald and vice president Michelle O\u2019Neill were among their party\u2019s delegation.<\/p>\n

Speaking before the meeting, Ms McDonald said there was a \u201cvery, very significant deficit\u201d in how Northern Ireland was funded compared with Scotland or Wales.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cWe are on common ground with all of the parties of the Executive, and we are here to make the case for proper funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe failure of the British Government and the British state to fund this place correctly isn\u2019t a phase. It\u2019s not just a moment in time. This is a permanent fixture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is a matter of huge frustration for everybody around the Executive table, for all of the political parties, that we are constantly in this position, that we are constantly in a position where we have to just ask for the basic level of funding to ensure that the level of service provision and opportunity is provided to people here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Referring to the likelihood of Andy Burnham becoming the next prime minister, Ms O\u2019Neill said \u201cthe face might change, but the policy never does\u201d.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cSince I came into my leadership role, this is my seventh British prime minister in 10 years. That underlines the chaos of Westminster.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI think today\u2019s budget discussion is very much scene-setting for Andy Burnham, the incoming prime minister.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a real sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu this morning, a real sense that we come here, we make our case, we\u2019ll actually all be making our case for the funding model that our people deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"xxxx\"xxxx <\/p>\n

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said it was an \u201cimportant day\u201d for Northern Ireland\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cWe\u2019ve been very clear now for a long time that we still believe, despite recent changes to the funding formula in Northern Ireland, we remain funded below need.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a real challenge. It\u2019s not just an opinion, it is something that has been raised now by a number of independent assessments that recognise that Scotland and Wales are both funded above need and Northern Ireland below need.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat has to be dealt with because it has serious issues and consequences for our public services.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"xxxxx\"xxxxx <\/p>\n

Ulster Unionist leader Jon Burrows said calls for more funding had to be accompanied with a recognition that better government was needed at Stormont.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe need to be credible and responsible, negotiate hard for more money, spend it more wisely, cut waste.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll also be making the case to help Northern Ireland grow by getting things like cuts in corporation tax, in VAT and hospitality and tourism that allows us to compete better with the Irish Republic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A political process aimed at moving Northern Ireland\u2019s finances on to a \u201clong-term sustainable\u201d footing is to begin,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1064188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[6416,8916,1194,6408,6853,270953,210465,292036,680,1434,91391,1144,11528,11191,12330,16,7913,292037,15],"class_list":["post-1064187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-alliance-party","tag-andy-burnham","tag-budget","tag-dup","tag-hilary-benn","tag-hillsborough-castle","tag-jon-burrows","tag-lucy-rigby-mp","tag-mary-lou-mcdonald","tag-michelle-oneill","tag-naomi-long","tag-northern-ireland","tag-sinn-fein","tag-stormont","tag-treasury","tag-uk","tag-ulster","tag-ulster-unionists","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116851592148523010","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1064187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1064187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1064187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1064188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1064187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1064187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1064187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}