The Prime Minister has pressed Northern Ireland ministers to agree a devolved budget, insisting the onus cannot always be on the UK government to resolve Stormont’s financial problems.
Andy Burnham’s comments in the House of Commons came amid an ongoing impasse over the Stormont Executive’s failure to set a budget for this year.
Executive departments have been operating without a budget since the beginning of the current financial year in April, and are currently only allowed to spend up to 95% of last year’s funding.
Ministers in the devolved powersharing administration have insisted they cannot strike a budget for 2026/27 without additional financial support from Westminster.
The UK Government has offered an extra £1.5 billion over the next three years in an effort to assist with balancing the books, but Stormont’s leaders insist that is not enough.
In response, Northern Ireland Secretary of State Sir Chris Bryant has hit out at “irresponsible” overspending by devolved ministers.
On Wednesday, First Minister Michelle O’Neill described a “really dire situation”.
“We are underfunded. The British Government acknowledged on one hand that we’ve been underfunded for over a decade, they acknowledge that whenever you compare our financial situation to that of Scotland or Wales that we are actually funded unfairly, but on the other hand they refuse to stump up the money that is required to run our public services,” she told media in Belfast.
“The winter is going to be difficult for people, that’s why we’re fighting for the right budget. The number one priority for us in the budget discussions is public sector pay. We must pay our public sector workers.
“Those discussions remain ongoing.”
Earlier Ulster Unionist MP for South Antrim Robin Swann asked Mr Burnham about the budgetary stand-off during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
UUP MP Robin Swann (PA)
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Mr Swann told the Prime Minister that his party colleague, UUP Health minister Robbie Butler, had neither the finances or the legal ability to pay health and social care workers a recommended pay uplift due to the impasse – raising the prospect of industrial action by health unions in the weeks ahead.
In reply, Mr Burnham told MPs that he had spoken to the Stormont parties on a recent visit to Northern Ireland and had subsequently found more money despite a “very difficult situation” in terms of the UK’s overall public finances.
He added: “I found extra money and there comes a point where people have to work together to set a budget.
“It can’t always be our responsibility. We stepped forward and I ask all parties in Northern Ireland to do the same – set a budget and get Stormont functioning as it should.”