Stormont ministers will 'continue to engage' with Chancellor on Northern Ireland's finances

The Chancellor was urged to encourage economic growth in Northern Ireland and transform public services in the province when she met Stormont ministers on Tuesday.

Ms Little-Pengelly said Tuesday's "in-depth engagement" was an opportunity to "urge the Chancellor" to take decisions to encourage economic growth.

She said: "It's good to have the Chancellor here to take the opportunity in advance of the budget event in the autumn, to ensure that Northern Ireland's particular issues and characteristics are heard by the Chancellor - and hopefully taken into account.

"We believe that Northern Ireland has huge economic potential, but we do need that investment and growth."

She added: "But we also wanted to raise with the Chancellor that some of her decisions could have a disproportionate impact on our businesses, on our farmers, on our economy of Northern Ireland ."

She said she raised a wide range of issues affecting Northern Ireland , including the national insurance employers' contribution affecting the region's small-to-medium sized businesses and the impact of inheritance tax changes on family farms.

"It was an opportunity to highlight those challenges, but also to talk about the immense opportunity Northern Ireland has if we are given the right tools to enable us to unlock that."

Sinn Fein finance minister John O’Dowd says ​budgetary decisions taken in London do not necessarily reflect the realities of life in Northern Ireland. He said there was "no secret" that there was a "significant hole in the British Government's budget".

"However, that's down to political decisions that have to be made in Westminster and elsewhere. Our job is to look after our people here and defend our public services, our industries, farming and others.

“And we made a very strong case to her that decisions made in London… don't necessarily reflect the realities here”, he said.