Northern Ireland budget not in a good state says Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris

Budget decisions will be finalised by Mr Heaton-Harris in the absence of a Stormont Assembly.

He said: "The budget is definitely not in a good state. I can tell you that."

After discussing the challenges of the budget he inherited in October, he said: "I've just received some of the figures from the permanent secretaries for next year's budget and decisions are still yet to be made, but it will be a very tough budget.

"And that's why the decisions that might go behind it need to be taken by elected representatives of the people in NI, not permanent secretaries and certainly not the Secretary of State."

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party could not form a stable government under the Windsor Framework but reform for public services was needed.

"We do need to reform our public services in Northern Ireland and the DUP will not be found wanting in this assembly term," he said.

"When devolution is restored we will drive forward the reform agenda, we will work with the other parties to deliver the reform and transformation that is needed to get our public finances and public services back into better shape."

Sinn Fein's Stormont leader Michelle O'Neill has said the annual budget will be "catastrophic" for Northern Ireland's public sector.

Ms O'Neill said the budget should be agreed by MLAs at Stormont.

"The budget is about to be agreed with no ministers at the helm," she said.

"A budget is going to be agreed by the Secretary of State working with permanent secretaries who should not be in this position – this is a budget that's going to cause demonstrable damage to public services."

Ms O'Neill said she and Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald made their views clear to Mr Heaton-Harris.

"So we made a very strong message to Chris Heaton-Harris. What is the plan?" she said.

"There needs to be a plan to restore the executive because this budget is about to cause catastrophic damage to public services.

"I believe our public services are already stretched, I know that our public sector workers are right across the board on strike action, and rightly so, for fair pay and conditions.

"These are all things that need to be settled, that's the job of politics.

"So that's why I'm saying very, very clearly that we're in for eye-watering, catastrophic implications of a budget that would be an unadulterated Tory budget, because it would be a secretary of state who gets to call it not local politicians."

Alliance MP Stephen Farry said: "This is an absolute crisis for Northern Ireland." He reiterated Ms O'Neill's sentiment that the Windsor Framework is a done deal, and the restoration of powersharing is his party's main priority.

UUP deputy leader Robbie Butler said: "We've seen the loss of some services which is going to impact seriously on the lives of some of the most disadvantaged people in Northern Ireland."