Rates rebate plan for Northern Ireland should not only be agreed but implemented quickly

The DUP has come up with an excellent proposal to spend an extra £300 million given to Northern Ireland on top of its budget.

The party points out that this is money that is not legally tied to the restoration and could be released without an executive in place.

It suggests up to £350 be given to 640,000 homes that would benefit from a rate cut.

This is a good idea for a number of reasons, above all its simplicity. It isn’t a complex scheme in which some people or groups are eligible to apply for funding, which then has to be vetted.

It is a straightforward way to slash an annual home tax bill at a time when households are struggling with car fuel an home heating costs, after disastrous rises in both.

Sinn Fein is blocking the proposal, by saying it can only be done with a first minister in place.

This is the party that was allowed to bring down devolution in 2017, ostensibly over the RHI scandal, and then to keep it down for three years until its non negotiable demand of an Irish language act was agreed — as of course it was agreed, as are so many SF demands.

As a result of that blackmail, schools and hospitals and other public services were left rudderless.

The rate reduction plan is not only a sound one, it ought to be implemented as a matter of urgency, given the financial pressures on the public.

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