Debate contribution: Multi-year Budget

Debate contribution by Miss Jemma Dolan on 25 November 2025.

MLA

Miss Jemma Dolan

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

25 November 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Multi-year Budget

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5258703

Read the official Assembly record

Text

It is certainly right that a multi-year Budget will enable better long-term planning and support the sustainability of our public services. While I share the call for it, it should be remembered that it is just one aspect of delivering better front-line services. For over a decade and a half, our public services have been stripped of resources by successive British Governments who have focused on austerity measures. The Labour Government who were elected last summer have failed to move away from that well-trodden Tory path. One example of that was when the British Chancellor chose in the spring to prioritise investing in militarisation rather than in public services, workers, families and local communities. The community and voluntary sector, which does tremendous work in assisting people to gain skills and enter the workplace, thereby supporting the local economy, was dealt a hammer blow with the loss of EU funding. The initial replacement scheme was, in fact, tens of millions of pounds short of replacing European funding. It has been succeeded by the local growth fund, which, again, fails to recognise our local circumstances, as it is focused more on capital investment than on resources, which are a lifeline for our community and voluntary sector. Treasury needs to listen to our local organisations and be more flexible to ensure that the funding adequately meets our needs. That is, of course, another unfortunate legacy of Brexit and a clear example of democratic deficit, as local Ministers are not deciding how the funds should be allocated. I acknowledge the work of the current Finance Minister and his predecessor, who, as a result of negotiations with the British Treasury, have secured an extra £1·3 billion for public services here. They have prioritised delivering more money directly from the Treasury for our public services, and they have delivered on that. That is also a recognition by the British Government that we have not been funded to the correct level of need, which has obviously had consequences for our public-service infrastructure. Putting an additional burden on those who can least afford to pay is not the appropriate way to address the current challenges in our public finances. Certainly, there may be other options that can be discussed and considered, but my party will not support measures that put those who are already struggling under even more financial pressure. As a local Assembly, in recent years we have managed to alleviate some of the harms caused by the British Government that would have worsened existing poverty levels through our welfare mitigation measures. However, due to the limitations of devolution, we continue to be negatively impacted by spending decisions taken in London. I suspect that that is likely to be the case again tomorrow in the autumn Budget. There are several measures that the British Chancellor could take to support our local economy and ordinary workers and families, such as a reduction in VAT. The disparity in VAT between the North and South is hitting the hospitality sector hard, particularly in border areas that rely on tourism, such as my constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone. The ending of the two-child benefit cap and the extension of tax-free childcare are also significant interventions that could be made to ease the burden on so many families. As a republican who believes that political and economic decisions that affect us should be made solely by elected reps here, I also want to see maximum fiscal devolution, and I support the Finance Minister's work in exploring that. Additional powers would provide us with more fiscal levers to deal with economic challenges. However, the barriers posed by partition continue to act as an impediment to achieving our economic potential, which is why there is a growing appetite in all sectors of our communities for discussions about what a new Ireland will look like.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:48 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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