Business

'No more cobbled compromises so bring in OBR' says Terrington

Paul Terrington, chairman of IoD NI, with Stuart Carson of event sponsors Rainbow Communications and guest speaker Paul Kimmage, the Irish journalist and former cyclist who helped expose the Lance Armstrong doping scandal. Picture: Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye.
Paul Terrington, chairman of IoD NI, with Stuart Carson of event sponsors Rainbow Communications and guest speaker Paul Kimmage, the Irish journalist and former cyclist who helped expose the Lance Armstrong doping scandal. Picture: Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye. Paul Terrington, chairman of IoD NI, with Stuart Carson of event sponsors Rainbow Communications and guest speaker Paul Kimmage, the Irish journalist and former cyclist who helped expose the Lance Armstrong doping scandal. Picture: Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye.

THE head of Britain's fiscal watchdog should be parachuted in to sort out Stormont's financial mess, a business chief claimed yesterday.

Paul Terrington is urging Secretary of State Teresa Villiers to appoint Robert Chote of the powerful Office of Budget Responsibility to actively extend its remit to Northern Ireland.

Addressing the Institute of Directors' regional lunch in the Belfast Hilton, its chairman said he was tired of cobbled-together 11th hour compromises, and that a business ethos needs to be brought to politics to resolve the financial impasse.

"We're told there's a good deal on the table, offering the Executive £2 billion in extra spending power, but we can't get it implemented and therefore get a return on that investment," he told 200 business leaders.

"In business, when things go wrong, you bring in expert advisers to identify problems and recommend solutions, and in this context, the Secretary of State must call on Robert Chote of the Office of Budget Responsibility to actively extend its remit to here.

"She should tell the OBR to examine and report on our public finances, consider the costs and implications of welfare reform, and help determine how best to put Northern Ireland’s finances on a sustainable footing.

"Doing this will also help bring a different tone to the debate about the economy. We need the independence of an OBR to help us shift the debate from austerity to prosperity."

Mr Terrington added: "We are all being challenged by the Chancellor’s approach to welfare and productivity and must shift our focus from the distribution of dwindling amounts of public money to claimants, low paid workers and the disadvantaged.

"We need to really deliver on an agenda that is about productivity improvement and wealth creation that can take people out of the traps of unemployment and working tax credits.

"Devolution offers us that opportunity. But only if it is about delivering on outcomes – making the return on investment. Not just 'being there'," he said.

Mr Terrington said deadline must be declared by the Secretary of State - but not for a cobbled together 11th hour compromise, but a proper and sustainable deal.

“There is real frustration that we are told yet again that we stand at the abyss, where adverse headlines threaten international investment and tit-for-tat petitions of concern mock the democratic process," he added.

“We know the model is broken and we do not want continued ‘one-for-you’ and ‘one-for-me’ arrangements that politicise policies, ignore the greater good rather than foster constructive debate; and seek to humiliate and belittle anything seen as criticism.

“I want a Northern Ireland plc with a vision and investment strategy that delivers real return. We do not want an agreement that does no more than prevent the Assembly collapsing and maintaining Executive Ministers in role.”

Guest speaker at the IoD lunch, sponsored by Rainbow Communications, was whistle-blower Paul Kimmage, the award-winning Irish journalist and former professional cyclist famed for helping to expose the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.