Northern Ireland budget can cover all statutory services, insists Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris

Several departments have said they do not have the remit to make the level of cuts required as some changes would require alterations to legislation. The Department of Health said it is facing a shortfall of £470 million while the Department of Infrastructure said its budget pressures may result in streetlights being turned off and roads not being gritted in winter. The Department for Communities also said it is facing a £111.2 million resource funding gap, while the Education Authority anticipates a funding gap of over £200 million.

In the absence of a Stormont Executive, the budget for Northern Ireland was set by Mr Heaton-Harris and cuts will be decided by permanent secretaries. The executive has not been operational for more than a year due to the DUP's ongoing boycott in protest against post-Brexit trading agreements. Mr Heaton-Harris said the budget was adequate to cover services in Northern Ireland. “There's enough money for all the statutory services, and a lot more to be provided,” he told PA news agency.

Mr Heaton-Harris was speaking at Crewe United FC in Lisburn, one of the clubs that has received a share of £600,000 from the government's grassroots facilities investment fund. “The UK government has also given the best part of £42.2 billion to Northern Ireland in its block grant, so there's a big sum of money that's invested in Northern Ireland services,” he said. “What Northern Ireland actually needs is its executive up and running, the assembly sitting, so decisions about the things you mentioned, get taken by locally elected politicians, elected by the people of Northern Ireland taking decisions on their behalf.”

Mr Heaton-Harris reiterated that the government did not want civil servants to be making decisions about where cuts should be made.

UUP leader Doug Beattie said the budget was unworkable. “It is an unworkable budget, people are not going to be able to adhere to it,” he said. “Civil servants will not be able to make the decisions which need to be made, to make the savings. It is a budget that will not work.”

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said that the idea that the budget could not be changed was a “bluff”. “I think it's a bluff, I think if the assembly gets back up and running, there'll be more money,” he said.