Cuts To Cost NI Further £128m

Further cuts are to be made in NI's already reduced spending budget.

As First Minister Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness meet the leaders of the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly at Stormont for a summit, it has been revealed that the Northern Ireland Executive will have to save an extra £128m on top of other savings already anticipated this year.

The cuts are part of the overall package announced by the Treasury after the general election.

The Chancellor George Osborne is giving the regions the option of making the cuts now in this current financial year - or deferring them until the year after.

The move comes against a background where the Stormont Assembly and the other two devolved administrations are expected to seek match funds for the regeneration money being spent for the 2012 Olympics in London following today's round table session in Belfast.

This would help to balance the cuts in 2010-2011 for all the devolved administrations which will be £704m to be cut across NI, Scotland and Wales.

The Chancellor, George Osborne, said it was necessary to take "urgent action" to address the UK's budget deficit as he spelt out plans for £6.2bn worth of cuts.

This fresh round of £128m worth of cuts are on top of the £393m, that government departments in Northern Ireland have already been told they have to save this year.

However, the announcement is only the beginning of the government's three year programme to reduce the UK's huge budget deficit.

The NI Executive will decide themselves which departments will be affected. However, many budgets are already drawn up and therefore will be unlikely to be hit until the coming year's funding round at Stormont.

Meanwhile, a team from the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games took part in an event which was held in association with Invest Northern Ireland earlier this month.

Local companies were offered a free service to enable them to compete for contract opportunities linked to the 2012 Games and other major public and private sector buying organisations.

See: Olympic Opportunities Looming

(BMcC/GK)