Public Expenditure: Northern Ireland

(asked on 12th September 2024) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the fiscal floor for Northern Ireland.


Answered by
Darren Jones Portrait
Darren Jones
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
This question was answered on 11th October 2024

As part of the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive (NIE) the UK Government and NIE agreed to add a 24% needs-based factor into the Barnett formula as it applies to the NIE from 2024-25. This is part of the financial package worth over £3.3 billion.

This factor reflects the higher level of relative need in Northern Ireland, that the independent Northern Ireland Fiscal Council (NIFC) has calculated is 24% more per head than the rest of the UK for equivalent spending. The NIFC was established with cross-party agreement by the NIE in 2021 as part of the New Decade, New Approach agreement signed with the UK Government.

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