New revenue-raising measures would help ‘balance the books’, NI Secretary says

New revenue-raising measures would help to improve public services and “balance the books” in Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris has said.

The Secretary of State said if people wanted to see a “thriving Northern Ireland”, then there were things, such as the water system, which required significant investment.

Mr Heaton-Harris has received the first batch of replies from senior civil servants at Stormont after he instructed them last month to provide him with information on revenue-raising measures such as the introduction of domestic water charges, drug prescription charges or raising tuition fees.

He said this was part of work to explore ways to improve the sustainability of public finances in Northern Ireland where Stormont departments are currently facing significant budget pressures.

Asked if it was possible to balance the books in Northern Ireland without new revenue-raising measures, Mr Heaton-Harris said: “Yes, but quite frankly I think you’d want to have new revenue-raising measures so you’d have more money with which to balance the books.

“People want good quality public services.

“I have been told by a number of people how the development and expansion of Belfast is being curtailed economically and in construction terms because the water system can’t take the pressure it’s under now.

“If you want to have a thriving city at the heart of a thriving Northern Ireland, these are things you need to invest in.”

Mr Heaton-Harris said he was expecting further information from civil servants, but stressed that he wanted Stormont ministers to be taking decisions on matters relating to public finances in Northern Ireland.

He said: “I have only asked about how we can consult on some of these matters so we are a long way from going down that particular road of knowing how much things would raise.

“There are a whole range of answers you want to have before you go down the road on any of those angles.”

Mr Heaton-Harris also said he wanted public sector workers in Northern Ireland to be rewarded properly for their work.

Last week, more than one million public sector workers in England and Wales, including teachers, police and doctors, were told they would be offered pay rises of up to 7%.

Decisions surrounding public sector pay in Northern Ireland are usually made by the Stormont executive, but it has not been functioning for more than a year due to the DUP’s boycott in protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Unions in the region have warned that public sector workers in the region are likely to escalate industrial action later this year, if workers do not get the same pay offers made elsewhere in the UK.

Mr Heaton-Harris said: “All public sector workers everywhere, I say thank you for the work that you do.

“When it comes to the pay awards, we are still finding out if all the unions are going to accept the awards that have been put on the table and how much of that, if any, is going to be from new money, or is it all going to have to be found in existing budgets.

“That is quite important for the money which might flow through the Barnett formula to Northern Ireland.

“I am fully aware of the pressures on the public sector and the public sector workforce and I would like them to be rewarded properly.”

Regarding the threat of public sector strikes, Mr Heaton-Harris said: “I would like to think discussions between the permanent secretaries and the unions will continue and we’ll get to a better place.”