DUP tells members Stormont collapse has "absolutely no bearing" on the budget - as party focuses on financial settlement

Its weekly email to members focuses entirely on the financial situation facing public services and households in Northern Ireland – and says the government could copy how Wales is funded by Westminster to ensure spending here meets the country’s needs.

Deputy leader Gavin Robinson told the party faithful “The fact that Stormont is not functioning has absolutely no bearing on the size of our budget”. He pointed to comments from Northern Ireland Office Minister Steve Baker who – when presenting the Budget Bill – said: “the sum available in this budget is the same as would have been provided were an Executive in place”.

Currently, the NI Executive is funded by a block grant from Westminster. How much funding Stormont gets via the block grant is calculated through the Barnett formula. The DUP say this isn’t enough, because it doesn’t deal with the additional cost of providing public services in a country as small as Northern Ireland.

In his email to members the deputy leader said: “Some have asked me why we need more than England to do the same? To put it simply, the cost of providing public services for a small place is more expensive than a large one. We don’t benefit from economies of scale or critical mass.

"To provide the same service as England, we therefore need a disproportionately larger public service and for as long as we just receive 3% of what England needs under the Barnett formula, we won’t have enough”.

For workers here to receive pay parity with their counterparts in England, the DUP argue that the funding model must change. "The fundamental problem is how we are funded and that must be resolved or else our police officers, teachers and nurses will continue to struggle to have fair pay”, Mr Robinson told members.

He also argued the government has a ready made solution: "Firstly, baseline budgets must be capable of meeting assessed need in Northern Ireland. The Welsh solution could be lifted down from the shelf and a funding floor put in place to ensure spending does not and cannot fall below need.

“Secondly, additional Treasury support for pay awards cannot be one-off. It must be recurring and ringfenced to ensure commitments to staff can be honoured without becoming a millstone around the neck of Departmental budgets.

“Finally, Northern Ireland needs strong and lasting financial foundations, which ensure our public services can be reformed and transformed to the benefit of all and in a way that values and rewards our dedicated frontline staff”, he said.