Editorial: The claim that Northern Ireland is short-changed is a dubious one

​In one sense Stormont’s finances are easy for even a casual observer to understand.​

There has been a massive overspend since power transferred to civil servants (as a result of the Irish Sea border travesty), a highly unsatisfactory state of governance.

There are huge, multiple and seemingly never ending demands on the public purse. Waves of strikes have affected much of the public sector. Infrastructure is creaking.

It seems obvious that Northern Ireland needs more Treasury cash, regardless of whether power remains in limbo, returns to the assembly, or is taken back by London (perhaps with increased say for Dublin – which would be an outrage). Even the Fiscal Council, a body that was badly needed given the financial incompetence of MLAs, has endorsed the notion that NI is underfunded compared to UK average in terms of “relative need”. But in fact Stormont’s finances, and the £2.5 billion government offer, are not straightforward. The money on offer is in part money that would have been due to NI in any event via other routes. But regardless of the actual amount on offer, it is wrong-headed – even contemptible – to imply that the province is short changed. We do not have water charges, unlike Great Britain. And devolved government has led to inefficiency and political cowardice, manifest in financial populism.

MLAs when sitting almost never identified waste or bad expenditure. Much of the supposed need of NI is related to past bad decisions, neglect of vital spending in favour of easy ones. It is also at times rooted in dubious claims about the impact of the Troubles to explain every woe and divisive or duplicated expenditure.

Unionists, having once been seen as fiscally prudent, above all should be wary of cross-party claims of victimhood over money. A diversion from the key constitutional matter of our place in the UK, it also alienates London and plays into nationalist hands.