Willie Hay says Barnett must be reviewed urgently as public investment in the North lags behind England
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The senior DUP figure said the Barnett formula which governs annual increases to the North’s ‘block grant’ needs to be revised urgently.
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Hide Ad“All the parties have been campaigning on the issue that public services are constrained by the Barnett formula. The Northern Ireland Fiscal Commission highlighted that funding for public services in Northern Ireland continues to fall well below the level of need.
"Therefore, year on year, public services are being reduced and we are not receiving the uplift we need to run them. In fact, the Treasury’s contribution to funding public services in Northern Ireland is going down rather than rising.
"For example, in England spending up to 2025 will increase by over 6 per cent, but in Northern Ireland by only 3.6 per cent,” the former Stormont speaker told the British House of Lords on Tuesday.
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Hide AdUnder the Barnett formula the North’s ‘block grant’ is supposed to increase in line with rising British Government expenditure in Britain-only.
It was named after the late former British Labour Minister Joel Barnett and was introduced in the late 1970s in what was supposed to be a temporary measure.
On Tuesday, the senior Derry cross-bench peer, who sits in the British House of Lords as Lord Hay of Ballyore, said: “These funding problems are not new. They have been flagged up by the NI Fiscal Council over and over again.
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Hide Ad"The Barnett formula is not working for Northern Ireland as it does not take account of need within Northern Ireland. The Government need to understand that, if public services in Northern Ireland are to be put on a sustainable footing, there needs to be real change in how Northern Ireland is funded into the future.”
He said the formula needs to be reviewed to ensure the North’s funding is ‘based on need rather than on population size’.
"There is an urgent piece of work to be done on a new funding model for Northern Ireland. We are £500 million to £600 million short of what other parts of the United Kingdom receive.
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Hide Ad"When it held an inquiry looking at the funding model for Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee and all the parties on it were very much aware of addressing the urgency of this particular issue. In fact, all the members of that committee supported a new funding model for Northern Ireland urgently,” he declared.
He expressed hope that the new British Labour Government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer would address the funding shortfall.
“I hope this is an issue that this Government will focus on sooner rather than later. As a devolutionist, I want the devolved Government to succeed.
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Hide Ad"Working alongside the Government, we can hopefully find the right funding model to reform our public services and deliver effective government in Northern Ireland,” said the former Derry mayor.
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