Case for improved funding for Northern Ireland will continue to be made to UK government – O’Neill

The case for a “proper funding model” for Northern Ireland will continue to be brought to the UK government, Michelle O’Neill has said.

Stormont’s First Minister said Labour has been “more engaged” with the devolved institutions than the Tories, but described a cut to winter fuel payments for pensioners as “crass”.

Ministers in the devolved powersharing institution have long argued that public services in Northern Ireland are not being funded adequately.

When Keir Starmer became prime minister last year, one of his first acts was to visit Stormont and to promise a “reset” in relations with the devolved institutions.

Ms O’Neill said Stormont’s Minister for Finance Caoimhe Archibald had been “leading the charge” to make the case to the treasury for an improved funding model.

She added: “We are not asking for anything special and unique, we are asking for what the public are entitled to, which is to have good funded public services.

“They pay their taxes, they pay their national insurance and in turn should have their public services invested in.

“Because of that effort we’ve seen an additional almost £500,000,000 invested into our public services.”

Ms O’Neill added: “Over the course of last year there have been a lot of changes, leadership changes as a direct result of the Westminster election, a Labour government now leading in London.

“They talk a lot about reset and some of that works, but I think there is a lot more to be done in terms of how we are funded and that case continues to be made.

“I have to say I fundamentally disagree with the approach of some of those early decisions of this Labour government, particularly targeting the elderly when it came to the winter fuel payment.

“I think that was a very crass way to deal with the challenges they say they inherited.

“I think there were better ways in which they could have conducted themselves.

“Some of this is still a work in progress in terms of relationships, but certainly the Labour government are more engaged than their predecessors.”

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said aid provided by Westminster to Northern Ireland in the wake of Storm Éowyn was a good example of the east-west relationship working well.

“Look over the course of the last week, that is evidence of the very strong working relationships that we have,” Ms Little-Pengelly said.

“For example, when we requested that additional help and support to recover from the storm.

“Significant amount of damage, hundreds of thousands of people off electricity.

“They did respond to that and I think we have seen some of those improvements in terms of that responsiveness.

“But we need that investment in our public services, we need that investment right across the United Kingdom.

“But we also recognise it is a very difficult fiscal environment and that is a large part of what we are able to do, or what we can’t do.” – PA