THE former Labour minister who devised a funding formula for public spending in the north, Wales and Scotland has died at the age of 91.
Born Joel Barnett, Lord Barnett, pictured, devised the formula for allocating public spending while he was chief secretary to the British treasury in the late 1970s. The Barnett formula was intended to be a temporary fix but is still used today.
In recent years Lord Barnett said the funding system was "unfair" and should be reformed.
Lord Barnett's daughter Erica said he died peacefully at home on Saturday morning, after a short illness.
Elected as an MP for Heywood and Royton in 1964, Lord Barnett served in the House of Commons until 1983.
For several years in the late 1970s he served as chief secretary to the treasury and later became chairman of the public accounts committee. He joined the House of Lords in 1984.
Under the Barnett formula, extra funding from Westminster is allocated according to the population size of each region and which powers are devolved to them. The formula has proved controversial because public spending per head is different in various parts of the UK. Labour leader in the Lords, Baroness Royall, paid tribute to Lord Barnett yesterday. "Joel was an extraordinary individual," she said. "As an MP, minister and colleague in the House of Lords, to the very end he was diligently holding the government to account and doing his best to ensure the best for the people of this country."