Chamber urges Stormont and Westminster to work together on NI growth

For businesses considering whether to recruit another employee or commit to an investment, the significance of last week’s Autumn Budget lies in whether it makes those decisions easier. While there were some welcome announcements for Northern Ireland, NI Chamber would have liked to see greater action on the pressures that continue to weigh on employers, particularly the cost of employment.

We recognise the difficult balance the Chancellor must strike between managing public finances and providing businesses with certainty. However, those objectives depend, in the longer term, on employers having the capacity and confidence to grow. A sustainable approach to the public finances therefore requires attention to the conditions in which businesses are being asked to invest.

Ahead of the Budget, three in four respondents to our Quarterly Business Insights Survey identified a reduction in employer National Insurance contributions as the measure that would have the greatest positive impact on their business.

This reflects the extent to which employment costs now influence recruitment and investment decisions. Whether a firm is taking on its first employee or planning expansion across a larger workforce, those costs are a material consideration.

Action to ease that burden and enhance our competitiveness would have helped firms make those commitments with confidence, particularly when recruitment difficulties and other operating pressures are already limiting their room to manoeuvre.

Overall, Northern Ireland was among the stronger-performing UK regions in Q3 2026, sitting above the UK-wide balance on every activity measure at a time when UK-wide balances for domestic and export orders, cashflow and plant and machinery investment were negative.

Some 85% of members reported trading either well or reasonably. However, the resilience of Northern Ireland’s businesses should not be taken as evidence that they can continue absorbing rising costs without consequences for growth.

Against that backdrop, further investment in the Cyber Security Hub at CSIT and an Investment Summit are welcome commitments, offering opportunities to strengthen Northern Ireland’s profile and support jobs and skills in cyber security and AI.

Our ambition must, however, extend beyond individual commitments, with more of the growth and job incentives and investment mechanisms announced for Great Britain reaching Northern Ireland directly.

If businesses here are to contribute fully to growth across the UK, they need meaningful access to the measures intended to support it.

Barnett consequentials arising from the Budget are welcome, but they also serve as a timely reminder that Northern Ireland remains in an unsustainable position without an agreed Executive Budget. Without a sustainable spending framework, it becomes harder to prioritise the skills, infrastructure and public service transformation on which future growth depends.

NI Chamber has consistently supported a long-term, needs-based funding model, alongside responsible revenue raising where it forms part of a credible package to deliver efficient and effective public services and infrastructure.

That approach requires the Executive to reform how public money is spent while addressing the planning delays, wastewater constraints and energy infrastructure challenges that continue to hold investment back.

The respective responsibilities of Westminster and Stormont are clear: greater action to ease employment costs and extend investment support must be matched by an agreed Executive Budget that prioritises growth-enabling investment.

Delivering the globally competitive economy envisaged in the Programme for Government will require decisions that give businesses sound reasons to invest and create jobs in Northern Ireland.