Stormont needs a Fiscal Council but it does not need a Fiscal Commission

News Letter editorial of Monday March 8 2021:
News Letter editorialNews Letter editorial
News Letter editorial

The deal to return Stormont last year included a long wish list of commitments that were unnecessary, some of them positively inappropriate.

For example, there are arguments in favour of implementing the Gillen recommendations on the handling of sexual criminal cases, but there are also strong arguments against the proposals (this newspaper has reported grave concerns in some legal circles at the reforms).

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Whether or not to proceed with such plan ought to be wholly a matter for Stormont, yet an (admittedly vague) commitment to address the report was inserted as part of the deal to restore devolution, which was partly drawn up by Dublin.

And last year’s New Decade New Approach deal included several other policy commitments, some of which will prove costly to implement. One welcome pledge, however, was the establishment of a Fiscal Council for Northern Ireland.

Indeed, such a body — to “assess and report on the sustainability” of Stormont finances and spending — was needed in the Province many years ago. It might have made much less likely the disgraceful waste of precious UK taxpayer funds in the lucrative RHI or windmill schemes.

Yet the Fiscal Council was not set up by last summer, as it was supposed to be. For whatever reason, Sinn Fein has seemed distinctly cool about such an oversight body.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Now the SF finance minister, Conor Murphy, has said that his department is in the process of establishing the council, but he has also announced a Fiscal Commission to look at revenue raising powers.

Why? Does Mr Murphy think that with London insisting on a Fiscal Council, he then has to get powers that SF want?

Major revenue raising powers would make Northern Ireland even more a place apart from Great Britain, which suits republicans.

In any event, Stormont has serious work to do to prove its credentials as a responsible forum in which to spend the lavish UK funds that it already oversees, before there is a serious discussion of handing MLAs the power to raise even more.

——— ———

A message from the Editor:

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor

Related topics: