NI parties react to 'brutal and punishing' Stormont budget

Northern Ireland's political parties have been reacting to the budget announced by Finance Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald after this afternoon's Executive meeting.

The Finance Minister had described the allocations as "difficult" and said that "our finances far outstrip the funding available many times over."

Health Minister Robin Swann was the only minister to vote against the proposals which will now be brought before the Assembly for approval.

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UUP leader, Doug Beattie has called for an urgent meeting of party leaders to discuss the proposed budget for the health department.

"We chose to take the Health brief because we recognised the challenges our NHS are facing. Minister Swann was able to hit the ground running to deal with immediate pressures," he said.

"In advance of the return of the Assembly, every party committed to putting health as their number one priority. That recognition was given even though it was understood that any budget would be challenging – every party committed to putting health first.

"We fast forward to today’s Executive meeting where every other party voted in support of a £184 million cut to the health service.

"Let me be clear, the Ulster Unionist Party do not support this budget as presented. We take this position because we refuse to accept the reduction of almost 150 acute hospital beds, the reduction of 1.1 million hours of domiciliary care or the reduction of 500 care home beds that such a cut will force on our health service this year."

First Minister Michelle O'Neill said the new budget from the Northern Ireland Executive would provide funding for a childcare strategy.

She said: “Despite the severity of the financial challenges that are facing us we have all collectively tried to work together to make the tough choices and to demonstrate the leadership that the public rightly deserve.

“The budget itself underlines our commitment to health, in terms of prioritising health, it also invests significantly in our education services and provides funding for the childcare strategy.

“There is no doubt – and there is no escaping the fact – this was a very difficult call, a very difficult budget for us to discuss.”

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said it was disappointing that Robin Swann had not supported the budget agreed by other Stormont ministers.

Speaking at a press conference, she said the funds the Ulster Unionist Party health minister had requested would have subsumed the entire budget available.

She said 50% of the available budget had been given to health.

Raising concerns over the proposed allocations, the Alliance Party's Finance spokesperson Eóin Tennyson said his party recognised the need to do something and had chosen to “step up and govern” rather than let the situation deteriorate further.

He added: “For too long Northern Ireland's finances have been rolled out in a completely unsustainable way. The UK Government needs to recognise its role in delivering us to where we are today. Periods of stagnation and collapse have only added to an already unstable system that now will take some work to repair.

“Alliance has consistently raised concerns, calling for a better and fair financial settlement, alongside the need for evidence-based policymaking which by its very nature would put a focus on early intervention and investing to save and addressing the costs of division.

“But none of these things have happened and now we are in a situation where if we don’t attempt to get things under control it will be too late. That’s why, when we had a choice today, Alliance chose to step up and govern, rather than watching from the sidelines while the problems get worse.

“This is going to be a difficult year, but without a budget to start from things could be a whole lot worse.

“I hope this is a turning point for all Executive parties to recognise the seismic change needed to Govern in the best way for everyone, rather than the current prioritisation of projects which is causing Alliance growing concern.”

The Leader of the Opposition, SDLP MLA Matthew O'Toole said that the budget fails to deliver for the people of Northern Ireland.

“We have heard plenty of warm and fuzzy motions from the Executive parties since the Stormont institutions returned over two months ago, and while they were all very quick to claim credit for these meaningless proposals and produce glossy videos and graphics, it is clear today that when it comes to actually delivering for people they are found utterly wanting," he said.

“We knew that Northern Ireland is facing a tough budget settlement and the blame for that doesn’t lie solely at the feet of the Executive, but what was produced today shows no clarity around what the Executive’s priorities actually are and it is apparent they have no plan whatsoever for how we will rescue our failing public services."

Mr O'Toole added: "Nobody expected a miracle overnight, but people in the North were hopeful that the return of the institutions would mean starting to deal with the issues facing families here. The cost of living, childcare, hospital waiting lists – what’s been put forward today will come nowhere close to dealing with these issues and in many cases we will not even be standing still when it comes to delivering vital public services.

“The North is caught in the middle of an Executive that has no plan and a disintegrating British government that does not care for the problems facing people here. The SDLP Opposition has been clear that we need to re-examine the way the North is funded from Westminster and reach a fairer settlement, but this cannot be a constant excuse for the Executive to hide behind when it comes to making difficult decisions and delivering on the things that matter.”

Meanwhile, People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll described the budget as “brutal and punishing” and called for "grassroots resistance".

“Behind the numbers and the cuts are real people condemned to poverty, critical services decimated, and potentially even lives lost,” he said.

“We need only look at the shortfall in health funding to get a sense of the impact this budget will have on people’s health and on patients’ safety. The Health Minister needs to decide if he will be complicit in these attacks or will he truly oppose the Sinn Féin and DUP-led onslaught on our public services.

“Stormont Ministers knew from the outset what they were signing up for. They agreed to limit spending at the behest of the Tories and they must now own up to the consequences.

“The people of the North deserve a government that will stand up to the Tories and protect them at any cost. Its decision time for the Executive - they are either with the people or with the Tories.

“People Before Profit will use our platform to mobilise grassroots resistance to this brutal and punishing budget.”

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