Shock As Wilson Reveals £370m Cuts

The NI Finance Minister, Sammy Wilson, has said that executive spending cuts of £370m are needed next year, writes Carla Liebana.

The Minister denied the existence of a "black hole" at the centre of the accounts and explained that these are consequences of the decision that all the parties made on deferring water charges.

The deferral of water charges, civil service back-pay and even swine flu are all cited in Wilson's paper as budget pressures.

The Minister said cuts of £200m are required from current expenditure and £172m from capital spending (roads, hospitals and schools).

He also warned that deferring water charges two more years could cost up to £420m.

Mr Wilson (pictured) presented a range of options to achieve the necessary cuts and asked Executive ministers for their opinions.

Michelle O'Neill, the Sinn Féin MLA and Deputy Chair of the Health Committee, commented: "Sinn Féin recognised that there are financial pressures on all departments including health, but the way forward is not to cut frontline services such as hospital beds, nursing jobs, and in the ambulance services."

According to O'Neill: "There are areas where Michael McGimspey as Health Minister can make savings and these need to be explored with full rigor before any of these cuts are even considered."

David McNarry (UUP) said he had warned DUP about this shortfall a month ago.

"The DUP were quick to jump saying that they could not fathom how I had calculated my figures and that there was no problem with Northern Ireland budget." said McNarry.

The UUP politician also said that the DUP need to have a mature debate about the state of Northern Ireland's economy and that Wilson "needs to look realistically at the problem and in turn find a way to deal with".

Declan O'Loan, of the SDLP, said the "penny has finally dropped" with the Finance Minister and affirmed that his party has been talking about this problem for months.

O'Loan, who believes there is an urgent need to revisit the budget to look again at spending priorities, declared: "The immediate £370m hole identified by Wilson is only the tip of the iceberg."

(CL/BMcC)