{"id":980032,"date":"2026-05-23T14:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T14:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/980032\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T14:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T14:25:07","slug":"dup-presses-chancellor-for-better-financial-settlement-for-northern-ireland-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/980032\/","title":{"rendered":"DUP presses Chancellor for \u2018better financial settlement\u2019 for Northern Ireland \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">DUP leader Gavin Robinson said he has pressed the UK Chancellor for a better financial settlement for Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">He said he also asked Rachel Reeves for borrowing powers that would allow Northern Ireland to build more homes, improve infrastructure and support economic growth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">It comes as the Stormont Executive remains unable to agree a new three-year budget almost two months into the new financial year as ministers complain their departments need more funding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Mr Robinson said his party colleague, Education Minister Paul Givan is facing a funding shortfall running into hundreds of millions of pounds, which could lead to teaching posts lost, larger class sizes and reduced support for children with additional needs.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/news\/northern-ireland\/mo-chara-court-case-live-kneecap-rapper-to-find-out-if-terror-charge-will-be-thrown-out-BV3HTFOTE5AQVIFZW5E4OXBNR4\/\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Mo Chara court case LIVE: Kneecap rapper terror charge thrown out after &#x2018;technical error&#x2019;\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779546305_392_LS75QCFJNRDEPK5NYYT3NROWEE.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/><\/a><a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/news\/northern-ireland\/uda-and-bonfire-flags-erected-near-contentious-north-belfast-pyre-CIOF7KZDUFEJBDUD7PKFQ7OW3E\/\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"UDA and bonfire flags erected near contentious north Belfast pyre\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/LOAIGEJMNBHCHG4A5M55MGYTBQ.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">In an email to DUP party members, Mr Robinson said he heard from business leaders this week that while Northern Ireland has huge potential, it is being held back by planning delays, underinvestment and systems that simply do not work quickly enough.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Northern Ireland Education Minister Paul Givan (left) walks with DUP leader Gavin Robinson\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/B6WJ65AQJFL33LT6GRU55TZUPE.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Northern Ireland Education Minister Paul Givan (left) walks with DUP leader Gavin Robinson (Liam McBurney\/PA) <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">He described a \u201cwider reality which cannot be ignored\u201d, that \u201cNorthern Ireland is being asked to deliver first-class public services with second-class funding\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Mr Robinson said people are feeling the strain, from patients waiting longer than they should, local services disappearing and deteriorating roads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">He said he has been making this case directly to the UK Government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI met the Prime Minister and made it clear that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and must be funded fairly as part of it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cA strong Union must mean a fair Union,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThis week we again pressed the Chancellor for a better financial settlement and for borrowing powers that would allow Northern Ireland to build more homes, improve infrastructure and support economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cAt the same time, Government must get its own house in order.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cAround \u00a3350 million is lost every year through fraud and error, while inefficiency and unacceptable absenteeism continue within parts of the civil service.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">He went on: \u201cWorking families and businesses across Northern Ireland are already under enough pressure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThey do not need new charges or stealth taxes from Stormont on top of continued Treasury underfunding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cTalent, hard work and potential, Northern Ireland has them in abundance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWhat has been missing for too long is government willing to match that ambition with proper investment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThe UK Government has provided a \u00a319.3 billion per year on average funding settlement for the Spending Review period, the largest in real-terms in the history of devolution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cIt is the responsibility of the Executive to manage that carefully.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cIn addition to this, the Chancellor has announced over \u00a3750 million additional funding in Barnett Consequentials.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThe Secretary of State is engaging regularly with the Minister for Finance on the budget, and it is clear he faces significant challenges in getting agreement from the Executive, and has asked for additional funding from the Government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cTherefore, the Executive needs to come forward with a detailed strategic plan for how they will manage their finances and move towards sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUP leader Gavin Robinson said he has pressed the UK Chancellor for a better financial settlement for Northern&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":980033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[6408,1998,1144,619,11191,16,7913,15],"class_list":["post-980032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-dup","tag-gavin-robinson","tag-northern-ireland","tag-rachel-reeves","tag-stormont","tag-uk","tag-ulster","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116624355082884777","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980032","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=980032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/980033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=980032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=980032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=980032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}