THE NORTHERN Ireland Assembly will be recalled from its mid-term break on Monday to debate the estimated £4 billion (€4.54 billion) in public expenditure cuts announced by the British government.
Sinn Féin and the SDLP secured the early recall after lobbying yesterday.
As a public row over Wednesday’s dramatic measures deepened, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams accused UK chancellor George Osborne of “awful arrogance” in trying to impose strict financial policies on local people. The coalition government should be “stimulating, not slashing” the economy, he said.
SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie said people were trying to come to terms with the “devastating cuts imposed by the chancellor”.
The parties made their comments as Northern Secretary Owen Paterson strongly denied claims by Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness that the British government was reneging on an £18 billion agreement to fund the Stormont Executive.
He said the allegations from the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister were “completely untrue”.
Contradicting the joint heads of the Executive he said: “We believe sufficient funding has been made available for Northern Ireland to meet the £18 billion investment commitment in the timeframe set out by the previous administration and on exactly the same basis.”
He added: “Critics of the government have exclusively focused on the reduction of 37 per cent over four years in capital spending announced by George Osborne. Yet the key point is that current capital spending was only ever one part of the Investment Strategy agreed by Gordon Brown.”
He went on: “In confirming that we are on course to meet the £18 billion commitment, the treasury has included the same elements as it did in 2007.
“The reality is that under this government, Northern Ireland will still be able to invest considerable sums in capital projects, if the Executive chooses to do so, over the next number of years.”
He repeated that every region of the UK had to play its part in reducing what is the largest deficit in the G20 group of wealthy nations.
Mr Paterson and Mr Robinson were due to hold separate private talks with Queen Elizabeth at Hillsborough Castle yesterday.
Advocating the recall of the Assembly Mr Adams said: “We need to make a stand. We need to have control over our own economic levers. The British have been threatening cuts for some months.
“Sinn Féin has opposed these and last week we published proposals to defend front-line public services, generate revenue, and cut waste.
“There is a better way than that being dictated by London. The Tory proposals are unacceptable and must be opposed.”
SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie said the spending cuts had “the potential to cripple our construction industry, decimate capital spending and hurt the most vulnerable in society”. She also alleged that her party would “wish to examine further the apparent unpicking of the £18 billion [funding] commitment”.
She said she wanted to stand alongside other parties, workers, employers and unions “to adopt a formal social partnership structure to develop a regional recovery plan and respond collectively to the British government”.
However, DUP Assembly member Simon Hamilton said: “Threats to stability or to the possibility of agreeing a budget may be tempting in order to score party political points, but they will achieve absolutely nothing for our economy and the people of Northern Ireland.”