DUP Accused Of Using Deprivation Funding To Cover Budget Cuts

The DUP has been accused of using funding allocated to tackle deprivation to "cover budget cuts".

Sinn Fein's Anti-Poverty spokesperson, Alex Maskey MLA, claims to have received confirmation that significant amounts of the £20m fund, billed as additional anti-deprivation spending within the DUP's Confidence and Supply agreement with the tories, has in fact been used to plug budget holes.

Mr Maskey said: "Most Department budgets were cut in real terms by the Tory/DUP budget so we always had concerns that the Confidence and Supply money would in fact be used to mitigate these same cuts.

"I have already established that the agriculture department received £1.8m from the £20m for its Tackling Rural Poverty and Social Isolation (TRPSI) scheme. But rather than being additional, the budget for TRPSI remained flat at £4m in both 2017/18 and 2018/19.

"Now I have learned that £16.5m from the £20m went to five programmes in the Department of Education. However, only one of those programmes - Sure Start – actually saw an increased budget so again this money is not being used as an additional spend. It is simply being used to fill budget gaps created by the Tory-DUP cuts.

"From the information I've received so far only £0.6m of the £20m for severe deprivation is actually additional. The rest is being used to cover for cuts imposed by the Tory/DUP budget. If the DUP really want to tackle severe deprivation they should stop propping up a Tory government still wedded to austerity."

(MH/LM)