The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has convened a roundtable on Monday afternoon in Hillsborough.
I will be joined by our Deputy Leader Gavin Robinson MP and our NI Assembly Finance spokesman Gordon Lyons MLA in representing the Party.
Whilst some were getting over-excited by this meeting being called, it is nonetheless a step forward in that the Government seem to be focused on Northern Ireland finances and accepting the case we have been making, for several years, that Northern Ireland is underfunded.
Monday’s roundtable is distinct from our discussions with the Government regarding the NI Protocol / Windsor Framework. Those talks continue to make progress, but more work is required to conclude that process if we are to have arrangements acceptable to unionists as well as nationalists.
Regardless of when the NI Assembly returns, our allocation from Treasury cannot sit unaltered. Whilst this year we are underfunded by three hundred million, by 2025 that gap widens out to £1.2billion.
When we first raised this with the Treasury four years ago, Philip Hammond was the Chancellor, yet despite our arguments and several independent reports, some within government were still arguing that Northern Ireland gets enough.
Indeed, it is welcome that despite initially deriding the DUP for pointing out our underfunding, that all the other Northern Ireland parties have caught up and now recognise the legitimacy of our arguments. At first, the Sinn Fein, SDLP and Alliance coalition dismissed our concerns as “distraction politics”.
Of course, as with any administration, there will always be examples of where money could and should be better utilised, but no amount of feasible efficiency could fill the annual shortfall created by the Barnett squeeze.
We will be clear with the Government on Monday that we need to get a solution with recurring funding which enables us to invest in our schools and hospitals as well as pay our public servants appropriately.
Finally, if we can get a better funding deal for Northern Ireland, known as a fiscal floor, it will be another example where this Party identified a problem and has stuck the course to get a solution. A solution that will not just benefit unionists but will benefit everyone who calls Northern Ireland home.
Thank you again for your support.
Best wishes,
