31 July 2026

The Executive’s Budget negligence has reached new lows as a deadline approaches which would impose a brutal five per cent cut on all spending in the absence of a Budget, SDLP Opposition Leader Matthew O’Toole has said.

As of midnight on Friday, because the Executive has not agreed a Budget, it can only legally spend 95 per cent of last year’s total funding.

This legal backstop effectively represents ministers imposing a massive cut on their own Budget – while blaming the British Government for their own spending constraints.

Ahead of introductory meetings with new Secretary of State Chris Bryant, Matthew O’Toole said the UK Government needed to urgently prioritise resolving budget crisis but also delivering much needed reform of Stormont
 
Matthew O’Toole MLA said:

“The Executive’s failure to set a Budget means that from midnight tonight there will be even more risk to public services, as civil servants will only be legally permitted to spend 95 per cent of last year’s Budget – meaning ministers are imposing a brutal five per cent cut on themselves.

“The Finance Minister and his Executive colleagues have refused to take one iota of responsibility for this failure. Agreeing a Budget is one of the most basic responsibilities of any government, but once again they have failed to do the bare minimum. They will blame the UK Government and hide behind bluster, but that will provide little comfort to the thousands of people across the North who will pay the price for their negligence.

“The UK Government is not blameless and that is the message we will be taking to the Secretary of State today. The SDLP wants to see a fairer funding model for Northern Ireland, but the Executive has failed abysmally to set out a clear set of priorities or make a coherent argument for how they would make good use of improved funding. All of which makes the case again – as if it needed made – for urgent reform of our political institutions.

“Chris Bryant needs to offer a serious and urgent response to the stasis facing Northern Ireland, and the Executive needs to finally take responsibility for governing this place.”