Business

Business bodies respond to 'brutal budget' with renewed calls for restoration of executive

“Executive ministers should be in office producing a multi-year budget and a programme for government instead of this unacceptable situation."

Retail NI chief, Glyn Roberts.
Retail NI chief, Glyn Roberts. Retail NI chief, Glyn Roberts.

BUSINESS groups have responded to the north’s new budget with renewed calls for the executive to be restored.

The Department of Finance said the budget published by Chris Heaton-Harris on Thursday represents a cut of around £57 million or 0.4 per cent on the 2022/23 spend.

But it said that figure does not fully reflect the extent of the pressures facing individual departments due to inflation, rising costs, increasing demands and pay pressures.

“In order to live within the funding available difficult decisions will have to be taken,” it warned.

The budget cut is expected to come at a cost for the private sector and the wider economy.

Around a quarter of Stormont’s annual budget is spent on procurement, which pumps billions into the local economy.

The Department for the Economy, which has already experienced the significant loss of EU funding streams in recent years, will see its budget further reduced by around £10m (1.3 per cent) this year.

Retail NI chief executive Glyn Roberts it will be “brutal” for public services.

And while the decision to allow a £297m overspend to be repaid over two years means the budget is not as severe as some had feared, it means the north will miss out on any Barnett consequentials this year arising from increased spending by London.

“Executive ministers should be in office producing a multi-year budget and a programme for government instead of this unacceptable situation,” said the Retail NI boss.

“While a restored executive will not be a silver bullet to the many problems facing Northern Ireland, it would much better than the current chaotic way of running an administration in Northern Ireland.”

NI Chamber’s outgoing chief executive, Ann McGregor said the budget “serves as a timely reminder that we need a functioning executive up and running to agree priorities and take difficult decisions”.

She said the budget should place a “razor like focus” on how the executive raises and spends money, and accelerate the debate on how Stormont is funded from Westminster for the next decade and beyond.