Debate contribution: Executive Priorities and Budget
Debate contribution by Mrs Emma Little-Pengelly on .
- MLA
- Mrs Emma Little-Pengelly
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 7 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Executive Priorities and Budget
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5669866
Read the official Assembly record
Text
It is absolutely inexcusable for the Chair of the Finance Committee not to understand the process. If we were to set a Budget that is short by £1 billion this year, the immediate result would be that an accounting officer could not sign off on anything further in their budget. They would immediately be cutting and cutting in-year. I am not prepared to stand over that for the people of Northern Ireland, whom I am here to serve. The people of Northern Ireland deserve a fair funding model for the Budget. They deserve to have public services that work. They deserve delivery, but we can only deliver with the right funding. That is the message that we have given to the Secretary of State today. We want to work in partnership. We want to drive efficiency and to drive out waste. However, he needs to give us a fair funding position to enable us to continue with the important work of transformation, to invest in our public services and to deliver on health, education and roads — the important things that matter to every single person in Northern Ireland. I am not prepared to stand over letting the people of Northern Ireland suffer because of a bad Budget settlement.
209 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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