Stormont ministers urge chancellor to invest in NI public services

(Left to right) Emma Little-Pengelly, Rachel Reeves and John O'Dowd outside Stormont

Executive ministers have warned the chancellor that she must use her budget to invest in public services to allow transformation to continue in Northern Ireland.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly and Finance Minister John O'Dowd were speaking after meeting Rachel Reeves at Stormont Castle.

They both welcomed the visit but the deputy first minister said they warned the chancellor some of her decisions could have a "disproportionate impact" on businesses, farmers and the economy in general.

The finance minister said the UK government had to understand "decisions made in London can have a detrimental impact here" and they need to "engage with us before those decisions are made".

The chancellor, who was on her first official trip to Belfast on Tuesday, said the government is committed to working in "partnership" with the Stormont executive to improve Northern Ireland's public services.

She said there was a "huge opportunity" in Northern Ireland to "grow rich sectors of the economy" and dismissed suggestions that her visit to Belfast was a tick-box exercise.

Reeves also said she believed the "future is bright" for Northern Ireland as she visited Studio Ulster and the defence facility, Thales.

Studio Ulster is NI's largest film and TV virtual production studio

Asked if she thought the executive should do more to transform public services or commit to raising its own revenue, the chancellor declined to answer directly.

She said: "We want to work together, the UK government and the NI Executive have got a joint commitment to improve the lives of people here.

"We've already made a record settlement with the spending review - it was the biggest real terms settlement since the Good Friday Agreement."

John O'Dowd and Emma Little-Pengelly spoke to reporters after the meeting

Little-Pengelly said it was a "good opportunity" to speak to the chancellor ahead of the budget event in the autumn.

She said the talks were "to ensure that Northern Ireland particular issues and characteristics are heard by the chancellor and hopefully taken into account".

"We do need that investment in growth, 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 and on our economy of Northern Ireland and it was a good opportunity to advise that to the chancellor," she added.

O'Dowd echoed the "good opportunity", stating that "there needs to be, as a result of the budget in the autumn, investment in our public services to allow us to deliver the transformation that is required to allow us to deliver investment in the workforce who deliver our services and to make them sustainable moving forward".

Rachel Reeves visited Studio Ulster as part of her visit to Belfast

Earlier, Reeves visited Studio Ulster, Northern Ireland's largest film and TV virtual production studio, to look at how government spending is helping the "creative industries".

About a third of the funding for the £72m project came from the government's Belfast Region City Deal.

Stormont's first and deputy first minister met Reeves last September, in a bid to lobby for "fairer" funding for public services in Northern Ireland.

Since then, the government has faced criticism over its plans and subsequent U-turns on winter fuel payments and changes to welfare reform, both of which would have had significant impacts in Northern Ireland.

In the latest government Spending Review in June, the chancellor announced a 2% rise in funding for the Stormont Executive for next year.

But at the time, O'Dowd warned that Stormont would still be left in a "financially constrained position".