Belfast News: Has Sammy Wilson Got It In The Bag?

The Finance Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive has announced a four year budget, highlighting it was not as some cynics had claimed a one year budget, to get them through the 2011 NI Assembly Elections.

Making no mention of the 'Wikileaks' allegations against their political partners, the DUP Minister delivered the budget statement flanked by First Minister Peter Robinson on one side and Edwin Poots on the other.

Just prior to Sammy Wilson raising to his feet, the First Minister Peter Robinson joked about Sammy Wilson not knowing the difference between a 'Brillo Pad' and 'ipad'.

The budget which is not backed by all 5 parties in the Executive we see:
1. A 2 year pay freeze on civil servants earning more than £21k
2. An end to civil service recruitment except in extreme circumstances
3. A 10% reduction in the amount spent on consultancy
4. A review and rationalisation of NI 'Quangos' & 'Arm Length Bodies'
5. Inflationary rise to Regional Rates
6. Plastic Bag tax of 15 pence

Mr. Wilson indicated that some may chose to play politics with the budget. He focused concern on the fact the Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom where unemployment has been on the rise for the past six months.

The budget which was agreed in the early hours of the morning, will now go to consultation which will not be led by Mr. Wilson's department but rather through each individual department. 

Editorial

This budget statement will not have surprised many people as most of its proposals were common knowledge. As expected the 2011 NI Assembly Elections appear to have focused our political parties away from issues that could prove fatal. As such water charges were ruled out for the next four years and money was set aside for those suffering hardship, including the unemployed.

On the whole this budget has been well received, especially the proposal to review and close down Quangos, eliminating unaccountable companies which operate public contracts but that have no accountability. In fact it was the DUP's own Lord Morrow that stated that Northern Ireland is effectively 'Quango Land', indicating that we could get rid of a couple of thousand of them and still not have resolved it.

On point of concern in this budget has to be the selling off, of the family silver, with over 500 million worth of assets up for sale. Given the state of the property market, this move has to be questioned.

On the whole, Simply Belfast welcome this budget and want to see the immediate end of 'Quangos' and unaccountable bodies who have made our citizens lives a misery. So get a move on Sammy, or the public might deliver their own statement to the Executive in the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly Elections.

Last Updated: 16th December 2010