Nearly a third of people living in Northern Ireland are now on a medical treatment waiting list, compared with just one in 10 in England, Northern Ireland Secretary of State Hilary Benn has declared.
Emphasising the need for reform and modernisation ahead of extra treasury money, Mr Benn said it was now “acutely” clear that many public services in Northern Ireland are suffering badly.
Nearly half of all National Health Service patients in Northern Ireland are waiting more than a year for a hospital operation, compared with just 4 per cent in England, he told the Centre for Cross Border Studies conference in Ballymascanlon, Co Louth.
“Don’t get me wrong, there are many, many examples of outstanding care delivered by the Health Service in Northern Ireland to individuals by really dedicated, hard-working staff. But the truth is the system isn’t working,” he said.
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Meanwhile, the Secretary of State increased the pressure that has been coming on the Stormont Executive from the treasury in London to increase local taxes and charge for water supplies.
“The Executive needs to take tough decisions on revenue raising. We live in difficult economic times and the United Kingdom government is grappling with that as we speak,” he told the Centre for Cross Border Studies, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
“If you can raise more revenue then it helps you to tackle the challenges you’re facing and to begin to fund a process of reform and to improve the delivery of public services,” he declared.
The Labour government in London would continue to build on the financial offer that it made to Stormont to get the Executive and Assembly back this year, “but finance alone is not the answer”, he warned.
The Executive set out “a very ambitious vision for change” in its draft programme for Government this week, he said: “I look forward to seeing how the Executive is going to put that vision into practice as it shows how it is going to deliver.
“You need to set clear benchmarks. You need to take on the best of home-grown ideas but also outside expertise from the UK, from Ireland, globally, frankly from wherever to help bring about reform,” said the British cabinet member.
In an extraordinary condemnation of the last Conservative government in London, Mr Benn said: “We saw rampant unilateralism. We saw a government that signed agreements when they clearly had no intention of honouring them.”
The Conservatives’ conduct was “catastrophic” for relations with Dublin, but also for other international partners, where people “thought Britain was a stable, law-abiding country and [then asked] what on earth is going on there?“
In a video message to the conference, Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill said there is now an opportunity to “refresh” the scale of ambitions surrounding North-South co-operation “to build a better future for everyone”.
However, she stressed, too, the need for good relations between Stormont and London, saying that it awaited “with interest” to hear proposals expected soon from prime minister Keir Starmer to set up a UK-wide Council of the Nations and Regions.
Saying that there are a huge number of areas where cross-Border co-operation could, and should be happening, the First Minister, in particular, focused on the challenges facing people who live in one jurisdiction but work in the other.
“A particular area of concern is the barriers faced by cross-Border workers who face obstacles and challenges as part of their daily lives. The Executive wants to reduce those barriers as far as possible,” she said.
However, Stormont does not have control over the taxation and banking issues faced by many of these workers, but it would work with both Dublin and London to find solutions, she said.
