Paterson Defends Funds As Executive Meets

As Stormont Ministers meet today to discuss how to deal with massive UK-wide cuts, the NIO boss Owen Paterson has come out fighting over claims that cash promised in the St Andrews Agreement in 2006 has not been forthcoming.

"This is completely untrue," he said last night and insisted that the Government has not broken its word.

"I can confirm again today that we believe sufficient funding has been made available for Northern Ireland to meet the £18bn investment commitment in the time frame set out by the previous administration and on exactly the same basis," said the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pictured.

Referring to this week's Comprehensive Spending Review, he said that critics of the Government have exclusively focused on the reduction of 37% over four years in capital spending announced by the current Chancellor, George Osborne.

"I acknowledge this will not be easy but it is worth remembering that the previous Government was actually committed to cuts of 50%," he said, noting that the current Government is sticking to the previous Government's capital plans. The Government has no plans to set budgets to 2017-18.

Given Northern Ireland will have invested around £9.8bn by the end of 2010-11, the UK Government believes NI is on course to invest £18bn by 2017-18.

The NI Executive is able to draw on a number of capital spending streams, including capital spending, and capital spending by public corporations and the Northern Ireland Investment Strategy also includes investment from third party sources.

He said: "The key point is that current capital spending was only ever one part of the Investment Strategy agreed by [former PM] Gordon Brown.

"As the Northern Ireland Executive's own Investment Strategy makes clear, it always consisted of a number of elements, including loans under the Reform and Reinvestment Initiative.

"In confirming that we are on course to meet the £18bn commitment, the Treasury has included the same elements as it did in 2007."

Yesterday, the First and Deputy First Ministers accused the Government of breaking its promises over budget cuts in Northern Ireland.

Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness were reacting to £4bn cuts in the budget announced on Wednesday by Chancellor George Osborne.

"The Treasury is not giving us £18bn. It is a breach of undertaking," said First Minister Robinson.

Meanwhile, as Peter Robinson and the Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness and all the other Executive Ministers sit down to thrash out where the axe will fall in NI, the SDLP's Alex Attwood said they must put the "poor and needy" at the heart of its financial planning.

He warned that the DUP and Sinn Fein would "suit their own particular needs".

"We could do what people in Northern Ireland need now, mature and radical financial planning," he said.

"When the Executive decides its budget priorities, it must protect those who are vulnerable and disadvantaged, given the slap in the face they received from the Chancellor," he said after Chancellor George Osborne announced a further £7bn in welfare savings were planned on top of £11bn already announced.

Mr Attwood said yesterday this would mean benefits cut of about £200m in Northern Ireland.

(BMcC/GK)