Northern Ireland Budget Bill

Emma Little Pengelly Excerpts

2nd reading: House of Commons & 3rd reading: House of Commons & Report stage: House of Commons
Monday 13th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[James Brokenshire]

I understand the political point that the hon. Gentleman is making, and he highlights the challenges and pressures. The indicative budget arrangement has in effect meant that the Northern Ireland civil service has largely been able to operate on the basis of a full budget, which was one of the reasons why we set out the indicative arrangements with the affirmation that, should it come to it, we would bring forward a budget Bill. We are taking steps today to follow through on that, because of the need to have finances in place. We obviously have not had an Executive, which is why we are in this situation.

Efforts have been undertaken to find an agreement, and I commend the DUP for its work and the ongoing discussions with Sinn Féin to find that agreement. We want to see an enduring power-sharing Executive who are able to get on with the job and to make the high-level budget decisions that we are being forced to take in this Bill. I recognise, however, the frustrations that are felt right across Northern Ireland about not having an Executive in place that are able to make such decisions.

[Emma Little Pengelly (Belfast South) (DUP)]

rose—

[Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson]

rose—

[James Brokenshire]

I will give way to the hon. Lady, because I have already given way to the right hon. Gentleman.

[Emma Little Pengelly]

The Secretary of State references the fact that there is no budget because there is no Executive in place. This time last year I was chairperson of the Finance Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and this time last year the Finance Minister, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, was due to bring forward a draft budget. He refused to do so, and he refused to come to the Committee to explain why—this was months before Sinn Féin pulled down the institutions. He did not produce the draft budget in October, November or December. We got into January, and I was writing to him week after week to ask for the budget to be brought forward. The reason why there is no budget in Northern Ireland today is that Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, the Sinn Féin Finance Minister, failed in his primary duty to bring forward that budget.

[James Brokenshire]

I welcome the insight and experience that the hon. Lady brings to this House from her time in the Assembly and from her contribution to politics in Northern Ireland. She and I had discussions on a range of issues during that time.

The point is that we do not have a budget in place, which is why we are having to take these steps today to ensure that the necessary financial stability is provided to the Northern Ireland civil service in the absence of an Executive, an Assembly and functioning devolved government. I am sure that various different political points can be made, but my focus is on seeing that we get the Executive back in place, and I encourage all parties, with renewed focus, to see that discussions continue and that we actually get the resolution that I believe Northern Ireland would like to see.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr Murrison]

I certainly share the concern about long-term planning. In general, we do such planning through the normal budget system, but it is not clear to me how that is going to be achieved for the financial year 2018-19. I suspect our right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will be considering how that can best be achieved in short order, since we have only a matter of weeks in which to determine the budget for Northern Ireland, as for the rest of the United Kingdom, for future years.

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to refer to our evidence session with the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, when he expressed his concern not just about finance, but about general accountability. Given that the Northern Ireland Policing Board has not been properly constituted, because of the impasse at Stormont, he is very concerned, as she will recall, about the democratic deficit and what that implies for accountability.

On testing the methodology on which the estimates are based, for me the most important thing to do is to look at the biggest spending Department. The biggest spending Department and the one with the second largest cash departmental expenditure limit is of course the Department of Health. Until the end of last year, the Minister in charge of the Department was Michelle O’Neill. She said last October, in response to Professor Bengoa’s health sector reform plan, that it was

“a foundation for my vision”—

we could not hope for a clearer statement of ministerial intent—and formed the basis of her 10-year vision.

It is not clear to me where and how that vision is captured in the budget presented, but we know that David Sterling has relied on what he understood to be the ministerial intent up to the point at which the Executive collapsed. It would be useful to know in greater detail how the purposes listed under the Department of Health in schedule 1 are being addressed with Bengoa’s plans in mind, given that they have been endorsed by the last Minister of Health in Northern Ireland. As it happens, those purposes are remarkably broad, but it is one of the smallest paragraphs in the schedule, which is somewhat strange given the extent of the health budget in Northern Ireland.

[Emma Little Pengelly]

I declare an interest in that my husband is the permanent secretary of the Department of Health in Northern Ireland.

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the report looked forward in terms of transformation, which requires hard decisions and many years of preparation and hard work if we are to have efficiencies and savings without any impact on frontline services? We are now in November, and this money must be spent this financial year. Does he agree that the terrible situation we have been put in, because a budget was not put forward this time last year when it should have been, means that those decisions and the outcomes in the report are now very difficult to achieve?

--- Later in debate ---

[Emma Little Pengelly (Belfast South) (DUP)]

I wish to make some short remarks. What we are doing today is necessary, but this is a deeply disappointing day for Northern Ireland, particularly as since devolution in 2007 so many people have worked incredibly hard to build the peace and democratic stability in the Province, both publicly and privately, politically and in relation to civic society. Today is a disappointing day, given the huge amount of work people have put in to try to make devolution work. It did work for a decade but we are not in a good place now, so it is welcome that the Bill has been introduced today but it is also disappointing.

Significant challenges had to be overcome in the course of the past 10 years. The fragility of the fledgling Government meant that considerable care and development was required, and in the DUP we pulled our weight and played our part in doing that. We remain committed to trying to get devolution restored for the benefit of all across the communities in Northern Ireland. Many times we looked as if we were on the verge of collapse in Northern Ireland, as we were having to face some very difficult issues, but hard work, perseverance and good will overcame those difficulties. Until the collapse earlier this year, we had sustained the longest period of government in Northern Ireland since 1972, and that was not easy.

There has been a reluctance on the part of some to call out what we have today, but what we have seen is Sinn Féin bringing down government in Northern Ireland and refusing to re-establish it—it is that simple. For those who argue that Sinn Féin is basing that approach on a principle, I challenge them to look back to what was happening this time last year and consider a six-month period. I ask them to look at the oscillation within Sinn Féin as to the reasons it was bringing down government, what it was seeking in negotiation, what its requirements were and what its barriers were to re-establishing the Executive. It took Sinn Féin a considerable time to decide that the Irish language Act was its key red line, as we see when we look back at its various statements. We sat in rooms waiting for Sinn Féin to come down so that we could see what it wanted, but it was far from clear what its position was for many weeks and months.

That says to me that Sinn Féin is using this particular issue, having identified in those discussions that the Irish language Act was a particularly difficult area. That is not just my opinion; it is a reality. The likes of an Irish language Act is a deeply divisive cultural and identity issue in Northern Ireland, and it was always going to be difficult to overcome. That is precisely why those in Sinn Féin chose it as their single red line, emerging from that cacophony of decisions and discussions that they had at that time. Sinn Féin is holding the people of Northern Ireland to ransom as it stamps its feet with demands; it is putting a cultural agenda before issues such as health and education, and that is disgraceful. People are suffering: those on health waiting lists; parents needing special educational help; the homeless; the victims of historical institutional abuse, about whom we have heard; the businesses which need economic stability in order to grow; and the young people who need skills investment and jobs.

I will not go into the detail on the timetable of what happened again. As has been mentioned, I was the chairperson of the Finance Committee. Some people have said that this is a political point, but as chairperson of that Committee I can tell the House that there were a number of parties from across the Northern Ireland Assembly in that Committee and we agreed to send letter after letter to the Finance Minister, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, showing our disgust and concern at the delay in bringing forward this draft budget. The current situation is not caused by the collapse of the Executive, because at the time of the collapse there should have been a budget in place.

That brings us to another critical point: Sinn Féin chose the timing of the collapse of the Assembly. Only Sinn Féin knew its plans and timings, and it could have produced a budget before it walked away. I made that point in the chamber of the Northern Ireland Assembly directly to Máirtín Ó Muilleoir; I asked why that timing was picked, given that in a matter of two weeks a budget would have been produced and put in place.

I worked with Sinn Féin for many years on the inquiry for victims of institutional abuse. Sinn Féin was acutely aware of the timing of that report coming out, but instead of waiting just another couple of weeks for the report to be produced and thereby facilitating the Executive making decisions before the collapse—let us face it: a couple of weeks either way would have made no difference to the public inquiry and the matter discussed at that time —it decided on that timing, without a budget, without considering the victims of historical institutional abuse and without giving that critical security and certainty to the Government Departments in Northern Ireland.

It was because of Máirtín Ó Muilleoir and Sinn Féin’s decision, particularly on timings, that Departments and public services were thrown into a period of uncertainty and extreme and unfair pressure. Consequently, it is the people of Northern Ireland, across all communities, who suffer the most. Sinn Féin’s decisions put us in the position we are in today of having to consider putting in place a budget in November, when no budget has been in place in Northern Ireland since right back in March. Even though we have heard some references to the indicative budget being put in place to allow Departments to plan, let us be in no doubt that the lack of certainty has fundamentally affected decision making and the roll-out of public services. Real people have been impacted by that.

I referred earlier to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Health services in particular have been put in a completely unsatisfactory, pressured and difficult situation. Let us be clear: this is a matter of life and death. People will have died because of the uncertainty and because decisions that Ministers needed to make and decisions that needed to be made about the budget could not be made. That is absolutely disgraceful.

I welcome the Bill, and I particularly welcome the decision to release £50 million from the DUP-Conservative party agreement funds. We have been making the case for some time that these funds are vital. Our public services in Northern Ireland are under huge pressure. It has already been mentioned, but in the discussions on that agreement and the funding, it was really important to the DUP that the money would go to public services to benefit absolutely everyone across all communities in Northern Ireland. The DUP will be there not to fight on narrow political issues or cultural agendas, but to do our utmost to deliver excellent public services for the people of Northern Ireland, regardless of their political view, religion, race or any other criteria. It is only if we work towards that that we will build.

I have heard reference to a shared future for Northern Ireland; we absolutely want a shared future in which the people of Northern Ireland are happy and healthy, living in a better and brighter Northern Ireland, within the United Kingdom. We will work to try to achieve that, but the challenge is for Sinn Féin: drop your red lines. We will go into government tomorrow morning. We have no asks and no demands. Get back to government and get delivering for the people of Northern Ireland.