Government ups offer to Stormont ministers to £1.5bn

The Government is understood to have upped a financial offer to Stormont ministers to £1.5 billion in a bid to break an impasse over the devolved region’s budget.

The Treasury has offered an additional £500 million a year over three years, the Press Association understands.

This is an increase on the £350 million the Government initially tabled earlier this week.

The move came as Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant held further talks with senior Northern Ireland politicians on Friday.

Stormont’s Minister of Finance John O’Dowd (Liam McBurney/PA)

PA Wire

Stormont ministers have insisted they cannot strike a budget for 2026/27 without additional financial support from Westminster.

Devolved departments are currently allowed to spend up to 95% of last year’s funding in the absence of ministers agreeing the budget.

Finance minister John O’Dowd declined to elaborate on the details of the new Treasury offer.

He said they are now “into a live negotiation with the British Government in relation to a fair and sustainable funding package for the Executive”.

“The objective is to ensure the Executive is funded on a fair and equal basis compared to Scotland and Wales,” he said.

Asked for his reaction to speculation that Sir Chris could go over the heads of the Executive and set a budget for Stormont himself, Mr O’Dowd criticised the alleged leaking of documents as “not helpful during a live negotiation”.

“It certainly doesn’t help bring about a speedy resolution to the issue,” he said.

“I am not going to go into the detail of any leaked document. I think everybody’s energies should be focused on resolution rather than imposing settlements from one position on to somebody else’s position.

“I would call on the British Government to remain focused on the issue.

“The Executive can set a budget, the Assembly can support a budget, but it has to be fair, it has to be sustainable and we haven’t reached that point yet.”

He added: “I think this can be resolved very quickly but it requires the British Government to recognise the fundamentals of the issue, and it’s about fairness and equality.”

Earlier, Mr O’Dowd said the negotiation “doesn’t need to go on for weeks”.

“As I said, it should have been resolved a long time ago. All the facts are known. All the figures are known,” he said.

“And what we have to get the British Government in position is that they have to accept that they have been underfunding this place for years, and that when you compare us to Scotland and Wales, that we are underfunded in the region between £1 billion and £3 billion per annum, and that has been confirmed by the independent (NI) Fiscal Council.

“So, therefore, there is a significant piece of work for the Government – the British Government – to do to bring the Executive into position where we can properly resource our public services and support our economy.”