The Executive is now in its 11th day in office after a two-year absence of devolution. Ministers are busy tackling the major backlog of decisions that need to be taken and hoping that they can push the British government into improving their financial package.
When devolution was restored the last time in January 2020, Covid quickly took over the agenda and the huge sums of money that were required to keep the economy and society moving during the lockdowns made any attempt at reform or any debate about revenue-raising impossible.
But we are past all of that now. Even with the new fiscal package and any potential improvements that might come soon, Northern Ireland still faces tough choices ahead about just what exactly we want from our devolved government.
- The naked cynicism of our politicians as public services flounder – Patrick MurphyOpens in new window
- The Irish News view: Health was to be Stormont’s number one priority. What’s gone wrong?Opens in new window
- Nothing unites Stormont parties like asking for more money – Newton EmersonOpens in new window
What I fear is that our political leaders will sit in hope that some more money from the British government will help in making many of these problems disappear.
However, the response from politicians such as NIO minister Steve Baker and former Secretary of State Julian Smith to comments by Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly on revenue-raising demonstrates how problematic this approach is.
The simple fact is that the narrative across the water is that Northern Ireland is happy to spend money and not raise the revenue locally to pay for the services it wants. The adage of “Scandinavian-style public services with American levels of taxation” comes to mind when I hear this debate.
Our political leaders have moved this debate forward in recent months with progress on our fiscal floor and a tacit acceptance that there has been underfunding.
Yet this should not stop a debate locally about what kind of role we want from our devolved government.
One of the major expectation problems facing the new Executive is that when it was down, it was easy for any problem to be pinned on the fact that Stormont was not functioning. If we only restored it, a local minister would be able to deliver solutions to the growing list of problems that our society is facing.
Now it is back, campaigners and the public are looking for movement on issues such as childcare, health, education and the other raft of public policy challenges.
Our new Executive should not start its term in office by ruling out its options unnecessarily. Rather it should have an honest conversation with the public about what we need to do to properly fund the services we need and what potential new initiatives the Executive could develop with extra resources.
It should also be to the fore in outlining what new fiscal powers it would want to see devolved from London to Belfast. We have all heard the debates about corporation tax but there is an opportunity here to outline and push for other fiscal levers that a future Executive could use.
Many of our public services are in crisis. There is an appetite out there for doing things differently. What we have done up until now clearly is not working
Many of our public services are in crisis. There is an appetite out there for doing things differently. What we have done up until now clearly is not working.
The crisis in our public services presents an opportunity for a debate about doing things differently. That will require our Executive to make a pitch for further support from the British government, which they are already doing, but also having an open debate at home about what we need to pay more for and who should be paying for it.
Northern Ireland has a moment in this bleak fiscal picture to fix its budget for the long term and not rely on piecemeal extra pots of funding from Westminster. Our MLAs should not fear this debate, limit it or shy away from it altogether. The prize if we get this right is worth having an honest conversation about.