Editorial: This is not a time when unionists in Northern Ireland should seem to be demanding money from London

It is dismaying to hear unionists talk of money in the same breath as a Stormont return. For example, we reported yesterday Ian Paisley Junior MP telling BBC Radio Ulster: "So any financial package, would be in my view, multiples of billions of pounds." He said it would cost two billion pounds to fix water alone. Mr Paisley denied that he was seeking a sweetener from the UK government to go back to Stormont, and said that it would be harder to get Stormont back than people thought.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, sensibly pointed out that the Treasury wanted to see public service reform proposals, not just demands for money. While Sir Jeffrey’s comments sounded more nuanced than Mr Paisley’s any talk at all of money at this point is most unfortunate.

The first reason that it is unhelpful is that there is already a view in some quarters in Westminster that unionists will complain about things but if you throw them money, the complaints will go away. That might be true for some groups or individuals but it is important that there is a cross-party understanding in London that this is not the key motivating factor for unionists.

The second reason is that even if a vast amount of money was forthcoming it is ephemeral. Inevitably even the largest sum of money becomes trivial within a short space of time, given that governments and regions are always processing vast amounts of funds.

A third reason is that nationalists do not trade principles for cash. The old sneer is against unionists for saying not an inch, when in fact any concession granted to nationalism will never be relinquished by so much as a centimetre.

A fourth reason is that demanding money alienates London. Anyone who wants Northern Ireland to survive should be keen to show that it can work, including being solvent. Unionism faces profound problems now. Money is not the solution to them.