Debate contribution: Executive Budget

Debate contribution by Mr Stewart Dickson on 22 June 2026.

MLA: Mr Stewart Dickson
Party at the time: Alliance Party
Date: 22 June 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Opposition Business
Heading: Executive Budget
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5637914

Text

We cannot remain in a state of suspension for ever. The uncertainty caused by the absence of a multi-year Budget is plunging our public services into disarray and depriving us of key economic opportunities, holding our communities back. The draft Budget previously proposed by the Minister simply is not workable. Departments report a £700 million funding gap in year 1. By the end of a three-year Budget cycle, public services will face swingeing cuts and austerity. Take the Department of Justice. That Department alone would be underfunded to the tune of £215 million by 2028-29. That is the equivalent of the entire budget of the Prison Service, the Probation Board, the Youth Justice Agency and Forensic Science. The Assembly faces stark choices, and agreeing the draft Budget as it stands is not a silver bullet, nor is it sustainable for us to continue in the absence of a Budget. It is vital, therefore, that we break the cycle of crisis and collapse that has been destroying our public finances. Stop-go government, austerity, Brexit, the global pandemic, reckless overspending by Ministers and an almost allergic disposition when it comes to making transformative decisions over the past decade have deprived us of key opportunities to place the Executive on a more sustainable footing. As a result, we have some of the longest hospital waiting lists in western Europe, stubbornly high levels of economic inactivity, failing infrastructure and unacceptable housing waiting lists. Simply put, it cannot continue. When the Assembly was restored, the Alliance Party made a clear case to the Government that a Finance Minister and an independent commission should be jointly appointed to assess Northern Ireland's finances and funding formula. That was not taken forward, and it was a missed opportunity. Again today, our focus is not on party politics or point-scoring but, rather, on solutions. We have a short window of opportunity in which we can change the trajectory of our finances. The Alliance Party is simply proposing this: a clear plan to tackle the cost of division, duplication and waste in our system; an Executive-wide commitment to public service transformation, particularly in Health and Education, our two highest-spending Departments; a rapid review of our funding formula to ensure that Northern Ireland gets a fair deal on its public finances when compared with other devolved nations; and a willingness around the Executive table to look at progressive revenue-raising, ensuring that those who have the broadest shoulders in our society bear the fairer costs, without placing additional burdens on hard-pressed families. I will look at each of those in turn. The cost of division is estimated to be upwards of £800 million per year, which is money that we can ill-afford to squander, and the Alliance Party's previous proposal was that we put a statutory duty on the Fiscal Council to have due regard to the cost of division in its work. Secondly, progress on public service transformation has simply not been rapid enough. The public service transformation board has made a promising start over the past two years. However, it needs to go further and faster. Thirdly, our funding formula. After years of false narratives that Northern Ireland politicians were guilty of begging-bowl politics, the UK Treasury finally conceded in negotiations that Northern Ireland had been underfunded. Just last week, the Fiscal Council confirmed that Northern Ireland will be short-changed anywhere between £1 billion and £3 billion compared with our counterparts in Scotland and Wales. To be clear, the ask is not for special treatment but for equal treatment with the rest of the United Kingdom. Finally, while revenue-raising will not plug the hole in our finances, it can and would improve the Executive's credibility. Proposals are already on the table around changes to our rating system that would ensure that it is fairer, progressive and consistent with the Executive's priorities. On public services, we deserve consistent, stable and accountable leadership over the medium to long term, rather than the boom and bust that we have experienced over previous decades. Collapsed Executives and political crises, followed by Secretaries of State flying in with chequebooks, are not the solution for public services in Northern Ireland. If we are serious about sustainable finances, the time has come for democratic renewal and reforms to Stormont to fix our broken politics. It is time to remove the vetoes and return the place to the service of working families across Northern Ireland.

737 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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