Dr. Steve Aiken OBE MLA, UUP Finance Spokesperson said after Chancellor of the Exchequer spoke today:

“The Chancellor has laid out the obvious facts that our public finances are in a mess. The need to address a shortfall of £22Bn has brought painful changes and cancellations to infrastructure projects, the curtailment of the previous governments ‘Rwanda’ scheme and the means testing of the winter fuel allowances for pensioners. In addition, the plague of consultants that have descended on all aspects of public service is to be stopped, and departments are being told to identify 2% savings in back-office functions. Her mantra throughout has been “if we cannot afford it, we cannot do it” and is one that we need to pay heed to. 

“There is very clearly a challenge now for the Northern Ireland Executive and the Northern Ireland Civil Service to step up and meet the expectations of this new Labour government.  To match the public sector pay review bodies decisions will create real difficulties in our Health, Policing and Education Sectors – but to retain these services we will have to seek to match these awards; equally, very few of our public procurement projects would ever pass any Office for Value for Money scrutiny – an issue that we need to resolve quickly. It is also clear that the influence of Sue Gray, particularly on public sector reform, is shining through, a key point that our own civil service should pay particular heed to.

“Today’s statement is a marker for tough times ahead. The Chancellor is now set on a path of balancing the books that is likely to result in both spending squeezes and increasing taxation. The autumn budget will set the scene for our public services for the rest of this Assembly and beyond – the message for Northern Ireland is that we will have to carry an equal share of the burden ahead. The NI Executive and the Finance Minister will have to significantly up their game in dealing with this new Chancellor who is determined to reform and rebuild, across our nation”