Debate contribution: Finance: Chancellor’s Spring Forecast

Debate contribution by Mr John O'Dowd on 3 March 2026.

MLA

Mr John O'Dowd

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

3 March 2026

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statement

Heading

Finance: Chancellor’s Spring Forecast

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5435066

Read the official Assembly record

Text

If one thing has been proven today, it is that the allegation of financial mismanagement that has been thrown at the Executive by Mr O'Toole and some commentators has been blown out of the water. The British Government had to bail out their own councils to the tune of £5 billion because they had been historically underfunded and unable to deliver against the pressures that they face in areas such as SEN. The Executive face similar pressures in relation to SEN and a number of other areas of Health, as well as issues related to other Departments. Let us knock the nonsense about financial mismanagement on the head. I thought that we had agreed last week to stop being spokespeople for the NIO, and that the Executive parties would work in a collegiate and collaborative manner with everyone in the Chamber to put a strong case to Westminster that it needs to properly fund this place in order to allow the Executive to deliver public services and the transformation that is so badly needed in a range of areas. To answer the Member's specific question, there will be many demands on the funding, which will be included in the multi-year Budget. It will be for the Executive to decide on the final outcome of the multi-year Budget and how and where funds are allocated. The Member is again making a technical error. The responsibility for the underfunding of the local growth fund rests fairly and squarely with the British Government. Do not be diverted from that message.

The open-book process gives us a great opportunity to show the Treasury and others the huge challenges that the Executive face in delivering front-line public services. As I said to Mr O'Toole, the very fact that the Government have had to bail out their own councils to the tune of £5 billion shows the scale of the underfunding of public services. I have said in the Chamber previously that the work that I and my predecessor, Caoimhe Archibald, have done has ensured that we get a fairer slice of the cake, but the cake remains far too small. Today's announcement proves that once again. We are working our way through the open-book process with the Treasury. I believe that that will give us the foundations for a very firm case to present to the British Government that they need to fund this place properly.

I thank the Member for her question. The Budget consultation closes today, and over 300 responses are in. I welcome those responses very much. When I published my draft Budget in January, I said at that time that I was in listening mode and that it was important that we went out to consultation to allow the public, the business sectors and others to have their say on this. They have responded in quite significant numbers. I have completed a round of engagement with my Executive colleagues in bilateral format. Those meetings, in my opinion, were positive and constructive. At this stage, we are going through the open-book process with the Treasury. Following the open-book process, I want to open up full political engagement with the Government in relation to proper funding for this place. I have also asked the Executive to set aside a number of specific meetings to discuss the Budget in the run-up to the start of the new financial year. A work programme is mapped out in front of us, and a significant amount of work has been done already on access to the reserve claim, today's announcement and more work to be done, but, as I said, there is a work programme mapped out in front of us.

The funding referred to for business rates in my statement relates to the fact that the Government have introduced a scheme to compensate for the introduction of Reval in England. We have not moved ahead with Reval, so that is a benefit to the hospitality sector; other sectors will argue that it is to their detriment. As I said, all Barnett consequentials come to the Executive, and it is a matter for the Executive to decide how those Barnett consequentials will be distributed. This funding will go into the overall pot of the three-year Budget, and Ministers will have a decision to make on the three-year Budget and the areas that will be supported across it. I have proposals in my draft Budget for a £10 million fund for the business sector. I would like to see that move ahead, and I will be making an announcement in the Chamber next week in relation to the continuation of the small business rate relief scheme and a number of other rates matters. Funding is set aside. Ministers may agree to that funding continuing, they may add to that pot or they may take from that pot. Those are discussions that have to take place.

I think that many workers, families and businesses will be sitting back and reflecting on the Chancellor's statement today, and particularly on that matter. From where they are sitting at the moment, they do not see it either. Therefore, I think that it is vital that the Government step up to the mark and invest in public services and in the economy, grow the economy, and allow us as an Executive to invest to transform our public services, to invest in our economy and to support our local businesses and our workers. Their current strategy is not achieving that.

That is quite and crystal clear. I hope that all those commentators who we regularly have to read and hear on our airwaves talking about the Executive's mismanagement of funds will now realise the true genesis of the issues that we face. The British Government today bailed out their councils to the tune of £5 billion because they could not deliver against the scale of challenges that they face in the delivery of SEN. We face the same challenge, whether it is in the Department of Education, the Department of Health, the Department for Economy or in other areas where we are delivering front-line services to children and young people with SEN. We simply cannot keep pace with the growing demand for it, as has been seen in England.

It is also worth noting that, in November, just before the Chancellor made her Budget announcement, the Department of Health and Social Care in England was bailed out to the tune of £1 billion, because it simply could not keep pace with the pressures that it was facing. Therefore, in the Department of Health and with SEN, we are facing the same common issues that are faced in England and elsewhere.

There is a need for proper funding. I referred in my statement to the stabilisation fund that we had in 2024-25 and 2025-26 of around £520 million. That should have been baselined into our funding. I am engaging and will continue to engage with the British Government about that specific fund and about other funding that the Executive require to deliver public services and to transform them as well.

1,185 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:02 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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