Government to outline Northern Ireland budget in Parliament

The Government will outline a budget for Northern Ireland later amid the ongoing powersharing impasse at Stormont.

Department allocations that are expected to result in swingeing cuts to public services are set to be laid before Parliament by Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris.

Mr Heaton-Harris, who has responsibility for setting the Stormont budget in the absence of devolved ministers in Belfast, is due to outline the funding plan for 2023/24 in a written ministerial statement at Westminster.

The move comes already one month into the new financial year.

Civil servants who are currently running public services in Northern Ireland are bracing themselves for a potentially brutal settlement.

When local ministers left office last year amid a political row over post-Brexit trade, Stormont was facing an approximate £600 million black hole.

Departmental permanent secretaries were forced to make a range of in-year savings and the Treasury provided a £300 million advance down-payment to help bridge the financial gap.

However, with that £300 million having to be recouped in this financial year, the picture looks even more bleak for the 2023/24 budget.

While Mr Heaton-Harris is expected to distribute the block grant among the Stormont departments, he will not be taking spending decisions needed within individual departments to ensure they balance their books.

Stormont permanent secretaries insist they should not be placed in the position of having to impose significant budget-balancing cuts, potentially impacting the most vulnerable in society.

They contend such decisions should be taken by democratically elected politicians and have urged the Government to issue ministerial directions for any major cuts that are required.

However, Mr Heaton-Harris has made clear he does not intend to issue such directions, which means the decisions will fall on the civil service until such time as powersharing returns to Stormont.

Devolution is in abeyance as a result of a DUP boycott of the institutions in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Mr Heaton-Harris is due to meet the main parties at Hillsborough Castle on Thursday to discuss the budgetary picture.

On Wednesday, Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O'Neill called on the Government to divert more money to Northern Ireland.

The DUP has urged reform of how the region is funded, arguing that the Barnett formula used to allocate Treasury money to the devolved regions is unfair.