Executive on course to deliver balanced budget, Archibald predicts

By David Young, PA

The Stormont Executive is now on course to balance its books by the end of the financial year, minister Caoimhe Archibald has said.

The Finance Minister praised her ministerial colleagues for taking the decisions within their departments to rein back a projected overcommitment that at one point last year was calculated at more than £750 million.

A £600 million-plus funding boost delivered through the UK government’s budget in October helped cover the majority of the funding gap.

Ms Archibald said ministers had now taken steps to address the remainder of the overcommitment.

The Finance Minister had previously spelt out the dire consequences of overshooting the Executive’s budget in 2024/25.

She had warned that failure to balance the books would see the Government withdraw a previous offer to write off £559 million worth of debt owed to the Treasury.

The Treasury offer, made by the last government, to set aside the £559 million was conditional on the Executive delivering a balanced budget this financial year.

Mr Archibald said the financial picture facing the devolved administration continued to be “challenging” but that progress had been made over recent months.

She said the October budget combined with a separate interim agreement with the Government to put in place a new model for calculating how money is distributed to the region had helped put the Executive’s finances on a “better footing”.

In an interview with BBC NI’s Sunday Politics programme, the minister said: “I have to pay tribute to my Executive colleagues because they have made significant strides over recent months.

“Notwithstanding something significant happening between now and the end of the financial year, I am confident that the Executive will deliver a balanced budget.

“So, progress has been made. We continue to negotiate with the British government in relation to our level of need and that is something that we will have a particular focus on in advance of the spending review in June.”

The minister added: “We are working towards coming in on budget and I’m confident that that’s the place that we will get to before the end of the year.

“So, ministers have had to go away and look at their individual budgets, and make decisions about what they’re able to do, and that’s the place that we are now in.”