Stormont ministers meet to consider programme for government

Stormont ministers are set to meet to consider a proposed programme for government.

If ministers sign off on the delayed blueprint when they meet at Stormont Castle on Thursday morning it will not be officially published until Monday, because protocol dictates that it should be presented to MLAs in the Assembly first.

The programme for government will set out the priorities for the devolved powersharing Executive for the remaining two-and-a-half years of the Assembly term.

The mandate has been curtailed because the DUP brought down the political institutions for two years in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Since the Assembly was restored in February, Executive ministers have faced significant pressure from the opposition SDLP to publish its legislative plan and priorities.

Opposition leader Matthew O’Toole raised concerns that Northern Ireland has been without a programme for government for almost a decade.

It had been expected that the draft roadmap would be published before the summer recess.

However, it was delayed after ministers received legal advice about publishing it during a general election campaign when former prime minister Rishi Sunak called a surprise July poll.

Stormont ministers will need to grapple with a growing number of challenges, including stretched finances in public services, spiralling hospital waiting lists, and an environmental crisis facing Northern Ireland’s waterways.

The programme for government will complement the Budget published earlier this year.

The governmental plan will set a strategic direction of travel for the work of the Executive, and usually includes a number of indicators and desired outcomes.

As well as being brought before MLAs at at the Assembly, the draft proposals will also go out for public consultation.